Sword Art Online Another Side, Another Story
by Usernames test my patience
Summary: Join three friends as they attempt to survive the SAO incident, follow them through their adventures and chance encounters. Another awful OC take on SAO, I wrote this for a friend some time ago and I decided to post it here with the hope of improving my writing. Please enjoy. Changed rating to M due to excessive coarse language, suggestive themes and inappropriate humor.
1. Link Start

**Authors Note: I won't be doing many author's notes so don't worry. I'm posting this story in hopes that review will help me improve my writing and perhaps somebody else will get some enjoyment from it. So please, if you think it's good, let me know! If you think it's terrible, let me know! There will only be a few chapters that are told in first person, the majority will be third. That being said, please enjoy and let me know where i make mistakes.**

 **Disclaimer: Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Link Start_**

 ** _(Vlinn)_**

 ** _November 6_** ** _th_** ** _, 2022_**

Do you know what it's like to be within an inch of death? To have your life balanced on the thin edge of a sword? On November sixth two thousand and twenty two, ten thousand people were trapped within the virtual reality MMO Sword Art Online. We were told that if we were to die within the game then our lives outside the game would also cease. That day hundreds of people died from having their Nervegear (a virtual reality enabling device) forcefully removed, while more died from the panic that ensued after Kayaba Akihiko, the games creator, told us of our fate.

If we wanted to live we needed to fight. If we wanted to return to our homes and bodies then we needed to win. It was on that day that my friends and I began the fight for our lives.

Had fate shifted differently I never would have even touched the game that day. I attended an agricultural college at the time and loved video games, my roommate, Kyle, was also an avid gamer, so avid in fact that he had applied and been accepted as a beta tester for SAO. The producers had sent beta invitations to the several countries outside of Japan that the game was being sold to in order to test the strain that might cause on their single server.

That month I watched on his monitor, attached to the Nervegear, as he fought his way around the first level and up into the higher ones. After his sessions we would discuss what I saw on the screen and what he felt in the game. Virtual reality…amazing. I couldn't wait to feel a sword in my hands, to see and smell the beautiful sights I had only glimpsed on a computer monitor, so as soon as I could I attempted to reserve my Nervegear and my copy of Sword Art, a pretty hefty sum of cash, but well worth it I thought at the time. Unfortunately the technology and the game were both very rare in the United States and I could not acquire either.

Meanwhile across the hall my friend Sarah listened intently to our conversations about the game, showing interest. However another computer game held her attention too tightly for her to actually join us when the time came. Another friend, Caleb, on the other hand was more than ready to jump into the game the first day.

Two months after the beta had closed the open games release day came and I found myself alone, awaiting the minute. Kyle had gone to visit his girlfriend that weekend and had not brought his Nervegear with him, Caleb meanwhile had work that he needed to attend to and forced himself to stay away from the game until it was all done. So when the moment came, I donned my helmet (or more truthfully, Kyle's helmet) and braved the virtual world alone.

When I opened my eyes for the first time I heard myself gasp. The world was gorgeous, I could feel, literally feel, the slight breeze graze my skin as it produced ripples in the emerald ocean that was the plain stretching before me. I could smell fresh air, I breathed in deeply several times just to make sure I was truly smelling it. My first moment in SAO was one of the most beautiful moments of my life and it all went downhill from there.

For the next couple of hours I would spend my time killing boars, the most abundant low level enemy on the plains. Level grinding was important and the amount of skin I was getting per drop would probably get me a nice amount of Col, the currency, to work with. The combat system in SAO was outstanding; all of the basic attacks were performed by you, the player. If I wanted to stab something I could do just that (although it wouldn't really do any damage without the systems skill assist program). My actions were my own.

Then there were the sword skills. SAO, true to its name, was based on sword play and the martial arts, thus there was no magic. Instead there were sword skills that could be performed by holding your weapon in a certain stance and letting it charge, like some kind of anime character. Timing was crucial to these skills, release too early and nothing would happen, too late and you may have just lost your window of opportunity in a fight. After about ten battles with my porcine adversaries I finally got the timing down.

I developed a particular fondness for the skill Sonic Leap, a skill I learned at level three with about thirty points in my one-handed sword skill. The skill was a charging type, when released my character would dash forward, slicing past my target.

It seemed like that moment in those old samurai movies when the two warriors would rush past each other, slice, then stay posed until one of them fell. So after a while I ended up dealing the killing blow to the monsters with that skill exclusively.

The more boars I killed the more experience points I accumulated and eventually within three hours of killing boars I was just within reach of level four. At that point I had decided I would head back into the Town of Beginnings to sell off all of the loot I had accumulated. The town was the starting point of the game and it was where most players still were, they were enthralled with the idea of actually being in a video game city, with its merchants and shops.

 _Just wait until they see the plains_ , I thought with a smile, strolling down the cheerful cobblestone streets of the town. Players milled about me in groups, talking and laughing, discussing the game mechanics and the wonder of virtual reality. I marveled at the sights as I wound my way through the enormous city, it was probably the largest starting area of any game to date. Why had they made it so big anyway?

I dismissed the thought immediately, it wasn't important. What _was_ important at the moment was finding a damn shop in this mess of stone. I wandered blindly for almost ten minutes, checking store after store for anyone that would buy the tens of boar hides I had in my inventory. I was beginning to lose hope as I left a small tea shop, imagine that, a shop for tea in an MMO, wonderful. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself, perhaps I would come back and have some mint tea after I had some Col.

I stepped off of the shops stone steps shaking my head, not paying attention as I turned right to head down the street…and smacked face first into a set of steel abs. I grunted and quickly stepped back blinking away virtual tears and holding my nose. I didn't actually feel pain, the game's safety feature wouldn't allow it, but I did feel an annoying tingling sensation in my nose.

"Hey," Said the man with the superman abs. "Watch where you're going!" I glanced up to see the largest player I had ever seen, including watching Kyle interact with other beta testers. He easily stood a few feet taller than me and was ridiculously buff; this man was a serious contender for the Ironman competition. His large size would have seemed rather comical compared to the starting short sword all players had at his waist.

Except the incredible Hulk doesn't look comical, ever.

I held my hands up peaceably, chuckling uncomfortably and slid back a few steps, trying to make some room between me and the crimson chin before things got out of hand. A shorter woman slid in front of sir-beats-a lot and shook her finger at him.

"Now, now Brandon." She said rather condescendingly, continuing to wiggle her finger. The stegosaurus of a man rolled his eyes exasperatedly.

"Damn it woman! I told you not to use our real names in game." Brick-wall guy threw his hands up. Brandon? I glanced at the woman's healthbar, above her head floated a green diamond and just above her healthbar was her user name, Skylarksister. That was a name I had seen fairly frequently.

"Marie?" I stared at the female player, she wore the basic clothing that every player was given, a tunic and grey/white pants. During customization players got to choose what color their tunics were, I currently wore a hunter green tunic with the top button undone. Female characters tunics were cut in a slightly deeper "v" than male characters. Marie sported a brown tunic and her bulky friend's was black with silver lining, strangely enough his was missing the middle so one could gaze upon those washboard abs. Seriously, you could grind cheese on those thi- Focus.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts before staring back at the female character. She glanced at me curiously and I saw her eyes move to the right of my face, she was looking at my username in her HUD, which read Vlinn.

"Jacob!" She squealed, yup it was her.

"Stop using our real names, jeez!" The big man, who I could only assume was Brendan snapped. Cronanbarbarian hovered next to his head, I smirked.

"Hi, Brandon."

"Fine." He hung his head in defeat. They would proceed to tell me about how they received their Nervegears and had been playing for about as long as I had, they had been out in the field for a little bit, long enough to gain enough experience to get to level two. They had come back into town to look around the shops and get acquainted with the locations.

"So you might know where to find a shop that will buy some boar hide." I smiled charmingly, trying to get them to disclose the secret to the biggest challenge of my life.

"Oh yeah," the girl said, jerking her thumb behind her. "There's a general goods store just up the road, we just sold our loot there."

"Awesome! Thank you, I'll catch you guys later!" And with that I jogged off in the general direction that her thumb had been pointing. True to their word the general store was on the corner of the street where I had met them. The NPC took my loot and gave me about 160C for the whole lot. Not a bad beginning if you asked me. Now that I had cash maybe I would go back to that little tea store and see just how well I could taste in this world.

But first I probably had homework that needed doing and the sooner I got it out of the way the sooner I could continue to enjoy the best game ever! I held my right index finger in the air and pinched my thumb against it, then flicked down. My menu popped into existence in front of my eyes; from here I could access everything, my inventory and equipment, my friends list, a messenger, a map and quest log and the settings menu. I tapped on the settings menu and it brought me to another screen with three options. At least there was supposed to be three.

I blinked once, twice. Where was the log out feature? I exited the settings menu then tried re-opening it. Again the log out option was not there. I tried this method three more times and still the log out icon never appeared. What the hell? Was there a glitch from too much activity on one server? I was sure they would send out a message about it and get this bug fixed soon. I shrugged; maybe I would go get that cup of tea after all.

I took one step and found myself in the main square of the town…which was at least four blocks from where I had been about four seconds ago…what? All around me people chattered, so many people. Had they all been teleported here, was this all of the players on the server?

"Hey!" I heard someone call to my right, I turned to find Marie and Brandon squeezing through the crowd toward me or to be fair Marie was squeezing, Brandon was plowing.

"Is your menu acting up too?" Brandon asked as he stepped on another innocent player.

"I take that as meaning no one can log out." I replied. "It's probably just being glitchy from so much server activity."

"Then why did they bring everyone to the center of the town?" The female player glanced around; a lot of the players seemed rather panicked over the situation.

"What's that?" Brandon pointed at the top of the town's clock tower. The pixilated sky above us had turned deep crimson, WARNING floated in the sky. SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT followed close behind.

"Hopefully it's about our log out feature." Marie muttered. For a moment nothing happened…

And then the sky bled.

Crimson leaked off of the announcement and hung suspended in the air before congealing into a figure. The man that now floated above us wore a red cloak with a cowl so deep that his face was hidden in darkness.

"Players, welcome to my world."

Kayaba Akihiko, the man that imprisoned ten thousand players in a virtual world. He would go on to tell us that we were now stuck in SAO with only one hope of escape. Clear the game. Reach the ninety ninth floor and we would be granted our freedom, die and you were dead. Fancy that. He would materialize hand mirrors for us to look into, to watch as our avatars transformed, creating perfect replicas of our real life bodies,

I watched in panic (and mild amusement I will admit) as the huge super buff Brandon shrank back into his average lean self and Marie lost a couple inches herself. What was jaw dropping was watching a lot of female characters turn into men, freaking weirdoes. When we first logged in the Nervegear had us touch all over our bodies for "calibration". This was clearly the true intention behind it.

After the game creator disappeared there was dead silence. No one wanted to believe him, but there was something in the back of my mind that wouldn't let me refute his claims. He just seemed right, I glanced around, people were starting to get hysterical. After a while there would be a riot and we definitely did not want to get caught up in this.

My friends didn't seem too phased or it could have been the fact that the news hadn't sunk in, either way they looked like they could move. I saw a man with red hair walk out of a nearby alley, as I looked beyond him I saw a black haired kid running away from the square and no doubt out of the town. That seemed as good an idea as any.

"We need to get out of here." I said lowly, turning to my friends. "Before everyone starts to riot or something."

"Where would we go?" Brandon asked, eyes shifting over the crowd.

"We could go to another town." Marie said, glancing down the various alleyways.

"No." I shook my head. "Everyone is going to either stay here or eventually move to the next towns, I have an idea of where to go, we will have to visit one of the other towns." I heard someone scream, this was followed shortly by mass shouting, the crowd began to churn and move dangerously, like waves in a storm. "Shit! Let's go!"

Without actually looking to see if they were following me I started down the nearest alley, running as fast as I could out of this town and away from the mayhem.


	2. Just Can't Bear It

**Disclaimer:** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Just Can't Bear It_**

 ** _(Vlinn)_**

 ** _November 6_** ** _th,_** ** _2022 7:28 pm_**

We ran and we didn't stop until the Town of Beginnings was far behind us. The closest town (well, the closest _actual_ town) was Torubana; we had a decent head start so if we were quick getting supplies in town we could be out before any other players showed up. They were just as dangerous as any creature we would find on the first floor. A rioting crowd was likely to start player-killing.

It wasn't far down the road that we encountered a wolf that seemed to be waiting for us. As we approached it I drew my sword…and froze. This thing could kill me. If I wasn't careful enough that wolf would tear me apart and I would truly die. The wolf lowered its head and growled menacingly, its red eyes peering into my soul. It took off swiftly, sprinting straight at us. My eyes widened, was this it?

A small figure dashed past me, short sword glowing bright blue. With precise efficiency Marie plunged her blade into the wolf's side and then dove away. The beast froze for a second, confused at what to do and Brandon capitalized on the opportunity, leaping forward and swinging his sword down, ending the monster. The two crowed their victor high fiving and collecting the loot. And I just stood there.

"Nice job." I said finally, shaking my head to try and regain my wits. "Now let's keep moving." I did my best to ignore the confused looks they were giving me and walked past them continuing toward the town. We did not encounter any other monsters on our short journey; it seemed that the wolves guarded the roads between towns, making them a sort of weak mini boss.

Torubana town was a relatively large town, it would have taken up about a quarter of the starting town. The shop in town was a classic general store in an RPG, it had a little bit of everything. I insisted that my friends use their funds to purchase the best armor that they could afford and I did the same. With rest of our funds we purchased a few potions and loaves of bread, the cheapest food they had.

I could feel my stomach rumble and I grimaced and placed my hands on it hoping to silence the grumblings. Now was not the time for food.

Soon we were leaving the town with our new leather armor; the leather covered our torsos entirely and protected our shoulders with triangular pauldrons. To the northeast was a dense forest that would only take us about ten minutes to reach, there was no telling what would be in that forest that would hinder us from our destination. I gulped and balled my hands into fists; we had to keep moving, so we did.

Our trip was silent, each one of us in the party was lost in thought. Then we reached the edge of the forest and my companions would be silent no longer.

"Where the hell are you taking us?" Brandon demanded, eyeing the tree line wearily as Marie edged away from the trees.

"You haven't explained anything to us, we've gone along with your plan so far but we need to start sharing here." The young girl glanced at me, attempting to look me in the eye, I avoided her stare.

"Sorry." I muttered. "I just wanted to get us away from other players. You know how people panic." The female swordsman nodded, still attempting to gain eye contact.

"That still doesn't explain what your plan is." I sighed and glanced into the forest, were those a pair of eyes?

"Can we walk and talk?" The two friends glanced at each other. "Just trust me, I'll explain on the way." Brandon frowned but turned and started to meander into the woods. I blew out another sigh before following him into the dark forest. True to my word I told them about the cave we would find in the north western corner of the woods.

When Kyle had played he had been rather thorough on the first floor, exploring every nook and cranny imaginable in case he missed a good piece of starting equipment. When he had been bumbling through these exact woods he had come across a cave, inside was a wolf pack that had not proven too much trouble for him and a camping site. Such sites were scattered across floors as safe havens for players to log out in, monsters could not enter and there were bedrolls for the characters to lie down on. I figured it would be the safest place to stay.

The two didn't seem to have any objections to my plan only a slight resentment that I had not shared sooner.

"Just tell us next time." Marie had said. I felt sick as we searched the forest for the cave that would hopefully become our sanctuary. It seemed as if some over-leveled creature would pounce at me from behind a tree. The thought of death was still fresh in my head; I clenched my hand into a fist as it started shaking. "Over here!" I heard Marie call.

The cave entrance was rather large, big enough to drive a truck into, if there had been any trucks anyway. I unsheathed my short sword and the others copied my motion and slowly we made our way in.

I was pleasantly surprised to find nothing. There was not a wolf pack waiting for us, I squinted my eyes, trying to fight the darkness of the setting sun. The cave, much like its towering entrance, was big, large enough for a boss fight I thought and it was empty, save for a grey boulder to our left. At the back of the cave was our prize, a door embedded into the stone. I forgot all of my anxiety and rushed toward our sanctuary.

"Jacob, wait!" Marie called, but I couldn't hear her, safety was so close. A deep growling froze me in my tracks. The boulder shifted, climbing up onto four huge paws, huffing loudly. I felt my jaw drop as the giant bear moved behind us, blocking us from the exit, I swore under my breath, the door to the camp site would only open if there were no enemies in the area. The bear let out a vicious roar and trundled after us, swinging at Brandon, who managed to barely get out of the way. Why was there a bear here, what happened to the wolf pack? Next to the bears two health bars was its name Grizzleclaw. If it had a name it meant it wasn't a normal enemy. I swore again, the designers must have removed the wolf pack and dropped this mini boss in their place.

I could hear Brandon swearing as the bear swung at him again, I gritted my teeth and gripped my sword tightly, I was still frozen in place. I watched helplessly as Marie darted forward, pricking the bear with her sword and then moving away trying to bring its attention off of Brandon, it worked, the bear whipped around and swung its massive paw at the girl.

"Jake, we could use some help!" Brendan yelled at me over his shoulder, I just stared in response. "Jacob!" I couldn't move, that thing would kill them and then me.

"I know you're scared," I heard Marie call, she was currently doing her level best to avoid those wicked claws. "I am too, we all are."

"Damn straight!" Brandon crowed as he swung solidly at the bear, the beast turned on him leaving the girl forgotten.

"But you can't let that fear stop you. If you don't fight you'll die without a chance of living!" Marie stabbed the bear's hind leg, the beast roared and swatted at her. One claw nicked her and I heard her scream in pain. Brandon swore and jumped in front of her just as the bear was swinging again; it hesitated for a moment giving Brandon the opportunity to get in another hit. The beast roared and raised its paw to swing again.

If either of them got hit by that thing it would be over, why couldn't I move? Just move damn it. I didn't want them to die, I didn't want to be alone!

 _Move!_

I pulled my arm back so the tip of my short sword rested near my cheek and let a blue glow fall on the blade, as the bear's paw fell I let go of the charge, activating the sonic leap skill. My character rushed across the cave, closing the distance in a millisecond. My blade raked across the bears face and I immediately started charging the skill again as my feet hit the wall. I released and bounced from the wall, slashing the bear and landing a few meters away.

"I don't want to die." I growled. "But I don't want them to die either. That just leaves you bear!" I leaped forward and plunged my sword into the bear's side and then jumped away from the bear's paw. "Switch with me!" I called out, Brandon jumped forward and again the bear hesitated, giving the swordsman time to slice the bear's cheek.

"Marie!" I called and she leaped forward, stabbing the bear multiple times.

"Why does it keep hesitating?" Brandon shouted before thrusting his blade into the beast.

"It's called switching, enemy AI can only target one player at a time, so when we switch it throws their targeting off for a minute, I watched the Beta testers do it." I danced around the bear's huge claws and brought my sword down on its side.

"Got him!" Marie shouted as she drove her sword into the beast's skull. The mini boss shattered into fragmented data dropping the girl to the ground. The loot window popped up, we gained a good bit of Col and some bear hides, not bad.

"Thanks Jake, if you hadn't snapped out of that-"

"Vlinn." I corrected, Marie stared at me blankly. "Call me Vlinn, we can't pretend we're the same in this world. Jacob wouldn't survive, but Vlinn will."

"Alright!" Brandon shouted. "Finally someone follows game etiquette."

"Should we call you Cronan?" The female swordsmen asked raising her eyebrow.

"I like the ring to that." The tall player grinned.

"Sounds stupid, let's call him Barbarian." I joked, speaking over Brandon.

"Okay." I heard him mutter sadly, causing me to chuckle.

"Cheer up Cronan."

"Oh, oh! What about me!" Marie bounced excitedly.

"Hmm, Sister!" The two players stared at me. "What?"

"And Cronan was stupid?" Brandon rolled his eyes. "How about Sky?"

"I like it!" She grinned and I couldn't help but smile, we were still alive. We walked to the door at the back of the cave and I pulled on the iron ring that was attached to the stone. The door swung open and we entered the cave room. It was large enough for the three of us to stroll comfortably, there were four bed rolls all situated around a fireplace in the very center of the room. Over the fire was a spit, presumably to cook food and next to it sat an anvil, the camp was most likely made for players on their way to the boss dungeon.

It was small, it was safe. This would do. We could live here for a while, stay safe for a little bit. We could survive here.

Cronan activated the fireplace and soon the room was illuminated with dancing flames and embers, without a second thought I collapsed onto one of the bed rolls, exhausted. My friends sat themselves down onto another roll of their choosing and for the first time that day, I felt safe. We activated the bread items in our inventory and started munching on the only food we had, that was a problem that would have to be rectified soon. But for now the bread would do, I munched and glanced at my companions, both were rather quiet, almost somber which was a drastic change from their earlier attitudes.

Perhaps they had realized the direness of our situation, we might not live, and we might not see our loved ones again. I gazed into the fire, watching the virtual embers dance.

Soon the three of us were asleep, the thought to set up guard watches that night never crossed my mind, but thankfully nothing occurred. When morning came I was the first to rise thanks to the rumbling in my stomach, I awoke the others much to Cronan's chagrin, Sky stayed silent through our morning meal, must not have been a morning person.

"Alright." I said, breaking the silence. "We need a plan and I think I might have one. If we want to survive we have to get stronger, which means we have to kill monsters. We also need a place to stay and I think this little campsite suits both of those needs."

"You want to farm the mini boss." Cronan deduced, nodding.

"Farm?" Sky finally spoke, glancing at Cronan quizzically.

"It's when you continually kill certain creatures, usually bosses, to gain gold or experience and special items." The scrawny man scratched at the back of his head yawning loudly. I nodded at Sky, enforcing Cronan's information.

"You leveled up yesterday didn't you?" The girl nodded slowly. "What does that make your level?"

"Three." She held up three fingers, still munching slowly on bread.

"This time we'll make sure Cronan gets the killing blow. Since we're in a party all of us gets experience when we kill a boss, but the player that deals the final blow gets more. We'll keep killing the bear whenever it re-spawns, you two can deal the final blows until you get to my level and then we'll rotate between the three of us."

"Sounds good." Cronan nodded slowly, Sky simply bobbed her head in agreement, definitely not a morning person. So we set about readying ourselves for the battle and then opened the door. The bear was curled up where it had originally been so we attacked, I activated the sonic leap skill, dashing across the cave in a second, scoring the first hit. We fought the bear for almost fifteen minutes until eventually Cronan brought his sword down on the beasts neck, beheading it. The level up message popped to life in front of Cronan and I, I had forgotten that I was close to leveling up, after a congratulatory fist bump we left the cave, with the intent of searching the forest for monsters that would drop food.

We were gone most of the day and our venturing was made slower by Sky, who would stop to examine every little out of place thing. When asked why she was searching everything she replied with "Haven't you ever played an RPG, you're supposed to check everything." I shrugged not bothering to tell her that this was an MMO. Later I would be slightly embarrassed as she searched a stump and found a health potion.

We continued our hunt, traipsing deep into the forest. As the sun began to set I had to admit defeat, we clearly weren't going to find anything out here, we set back for camp, we still had enough food to last for a couple weeks if we ate two meals a day. We would figure out what to do after at dinner tonight. I chewed on the inside of my cheek, mulling over our options.

As we entered the cave an enraged roar brought me out of my reverie.

"Shit!" I jumped backwards, a huge paw just barely missing me, how could we forget about the mini boss. The large grey beast stood on its hind legs and roared at us again, at least I had thought it had been roaring at us. Near the back of the cave stood an older man, he had to be almost thirty, holding his sword charging a skill. The bear swung its claws at the man just as he released the skill. Unfortunately the man must have been very low leveled. The claws connected before he could move and we watched in horror as he screamed and burst apart into chunks of data.

I felt sick, beside me Sky's hand leapt to her mouth and her eyes widened. Cronan stiffened and his jaw dropped, we had just seen our first death in this world. That poor man must have come across the cave by accident, but why had he been all the way out here? The great bear turned its attention toward us and growled deeply, we didn't have time to mourn someone we didn't even know.

I grit my teeth and the three of us set to work on the bear, with Cronan leading the charge. Sky took the killing blow this round, stabbing her sword through old Grizzleclaw's eye. After three successful battles with this monster it was almost becoming easy, almost.

Later we sat around the fire munching on bread and watching Sky search our cavernous camp from top to bottom. Anything to keep busy, a silent agreement had seemed to form between all of us, we would simply ignore the fact that someone had died and hopefully forget about it.

"There has to be something in here." She mumbled more to herself but still loudly enough to hear. "Can't be nothing…" Cronan and I shared a skeptical glance but kept our comments to ourselves instead focusing on the more important problem at hand.

"So food." Cronan said expectantly, "We're clearly not finding anything meandering blindly through the woods out there." I grunted in response, we probably could have trekked through all day without finding something that dropped food.

"We're going to have to go into town eventually." I swallowed that last bit of that night's meal and watched as Sky continued to slide her hands over the walls, raving all the while. "Buy some food, repair our weapons and armor, and maybe snoop around, yeah?" I looked at Cronan and he nodded, stroking his chin.

"Hopefully she won't be like that in town." He joked, pointing at our friend. I smiled; it was nice to still be able to do that. We would stay like that for about two and a half weeks, simply waking up, killing Grizzleclaw exploring the forest then coming back to our camp to do it again. One night I brought up the fact that we hadn't repaired our weapons and armor in almost three weeks and we would definitely need to do so, on top of which we were down to the last of our food. The others agreed that it was definitely time to leave the cave for a day.


	3. Just to Pass the Time

**A/n:Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned partie** s.

 ** _Just to Pass the Time_**

 ** _November 27_** ** _th_** ** _, 2022 8:12 pm_**

Thankfully they made it to Grizzleclaw's cave without incident, but it was the creature waiting on the inside of the cave that had the eldest player worried. He did not take delight in the thought of facing that demon bear at night, when he was actually awake. The group opened up their menus to make quick, last-minute preparations before the fight. Nothing to worry about Vlinn supposed, as long as they were careful everything would be fine.

As one the players drew their respective weapons and stepped into the cave…and were immediately assaulted by an ear deafening roar. Out of fear, not skill, not prowess, just straight fear Vlinn dashed forward and the bear's swinging paw just barely missed the fleeing player. Sky somersaulted over the wrecking ball wrapped in fur, avoiding injury as well, Cronan was not as lucky.

The scrawny warrior took the brunt of the blow, which had it been three weeks ago, would have killed him. But he was stronger now and apparently that armor was pretty damn good. Neither of his comrades had the time to pull up the party window and check his health, but Sky could see rustling in the undergrowth and seconds later cursing assailed their ears. He would be fine for the moment; it was Sky and Vlinn that needed to worry.

Vlinn's spear glowed red for a moment until he released the charging type skill Crazy Thrust and dashed at the bear stabbing the weapon into its side. The player ripped it out and dove away from the monster before it could turn towards him. With a roar Grizzleclaw whipped around and swung its claws blindly, Sky leaped fearlessly at the bear, his claws just missing her. She delivered several stabs to his face before bouncing off of him leaving an opening for Vlinn to rush in again and plant the spear into its gut.

The bear roared and outside the cave the players heard someone howl in response, moments later Cronan charged in, sword held high. Vlinn pulled his spear out of the bear and fled, giving the warrior as much space as he needed to reap his revenge. And reap he did, the lean man was a whirlwind of blades, throwing sword skill after sword skill at the bear, not giving it time to react, by the time either comrade blinked Grizzleclaw was already dissolving into red bits of data.

Sky dismissed the loot window, nothing new the same amount of experience and a bear pelt and Vlinn whistled appreciatively when Cronan walked over to join his party.

"Don't piss _him_ off." The eldest joked to Sky, she giggled while Cronan merely snorted and slammed his sword back into its scabbard. The two smirked and followed after him as he lead the way into the camp, the familiar sight and camp fire smell was comforting to finally arrive to. Vlinn stalked over to his bed roll and collapsed, exhausted, Sky sat gently on hers and sighed loudly. Cronan marched, instead, to the anvil next to the burning camp fire and sat himself in front of the steel.

"Give me your weapons." He said as he pulled his out of his scabbard and laid it across the iron anvil. Vlinn watched curiously as he brought up his menu and tinkered around with his inventory. A hammer materialized in his hand and he pounded it onto his sword, after the initial strike another menu popped up and the warrior selected an option and his sword briefly glowed white.

Cronan picked his blade up and inspected it briefly, then after nodding to himself he placed it back into its scabbard and reached his hand out for my spear.

"A blacksmith hammer?" The mid-sized player observed, pulling the spear off of his back and handing it to the taller warrior pole first. Cronan grunted and slammed the hammer onto the metal spear head.

"I figured," He said as he manipulated the menus that appeared. "That if one of us could repair weapons it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than paying for it every time."

"Huh. Good thinking." Vlinn replaced the spear as it was handed to him and then he took Sky's and put it through the same treatment.

"So eventually you'll be able to craft weapons for us?" The girl watched curiously as he repaired her sword. He handed it back to her and then opened up his menu and un-equipped his armor and then materialized them on top of the anvil. He smashed the hammer down and when the menu popped up he cursed loudly.

"How am I not skilled enough to repair this armor? It's the first floor!" Cronan threw his hands up in exasperation. "Yeah, eventually I'll be able make stuff, but I'll need access to a forge." His armor disappeared and then reappeared on his body and he put his hammer back into his inventory.

"Well that takes care of our equipment, now what about food?" Vlinn glanced at Sky expectantly, Cronan followed suit, a sly grin forming on his face. For a moment she did not notice and then upon seeing her comrade's stares she frowned.

"Why do I have to learn how to cook?"

"Because you're the woman, woman!" Cronan said, pointing at the fire. "Now get in the kitchen!"

"Screw you!" Sky glared as she walked over to the fire. "I'm only doing this because I'm hungry too!" She touched the wooden spit over the fire and a menu appeared before her, within a few clicks three pieces of beef were roasting over the fire. Sky shrugged, "It just gave me a timer, can't be that hard right?" She seated herself on her bed roll and we fell silent.

Vlinn placed his hand over his grumbling stomach, trying to silence it. He could not wait for the beef, perhaps a quick snack would not hurt. He pulled a piece of bread out of his inventory, then as an afterthought, materialized the Cream as well. A small clay mason jar appeared on the ground next to him. The player tilted his head slightly, tapped the jar and a small window leapt into existence in front of it. _A topping that may also be used as an ingredient in many desserts._

 _A topping?_ He thought to himself, on a whim the player tapped the top of the container which grafted a small orb of light to his index finger. Slowly, Vlinn applied the sphere to the bread, dragging it across the surface.

Like ink out of a pen the cream trailed after the light sphere. Vlinn grinned widely as he watched the sweet, dessert like cream spread across the piece of bread.

"Guys, it's like a donut!" He crammed the bread into his mouth greedily and almost cried. It tasted wonderful!

"You couldn't wait?" Sky glared, behind her Cronan's jaw had dropped in amazement. The cook turned her glare towards him and he consciously closed his mouth. Vlinn shrugged and shoved the rest of the bread into his already full mouth, he sighed and settled back…and then realized his mistake.

He wasn't hungry anymore, that was how food worked in SAO, as long as a player ate something (regardless of size or amount) when they were hungry the player would not feel hunger afterwards. Hopefully the beef could be placed in the inventory for later. The group sat waiting for the beef; it felt much longer than it should have by the time the "timer" dinged.

Sky took the food off of the spit and presented them with three burnt pieces of beef. Cronan paled and took his awkwardly.

"What?" She asked, seeing her friend's reactions. "It doesn't look that bad!" The female swordsman bit into her meal…and instantly regretted it. Vlinn watched in amusement as her face almost turned green. Cronan laughed loudly and soon he was guffawing with him as Sky spit the food out of her mouth. "Shut up!" She said as she was brushing her tongue off so it came out "Thut uu" which solicited more laughter from her supposed friends.

After the giggle fits had subsided the group trashed the beef and Vlinn watched with pride as the others ate their bread with cream. Sky stuffed her food in her mouth without looking at either player beside her, still pouting.

"You'll just have to shorten the time tomorrow." Vlinn said trying to lighten the mood, she grunted in response and laid down for the night, Cronan too had retreated to his bed roll. Vlinn glanced around somberly, after three weeks there the companions had run out of things to talk about and the nights were getting boring. There was nothing left to do but sleep, so they did.

The next morning Vlinn was awoken via violent shaking that ripped his eyelids open. Sky leaned over him, hands on his shoulder.

"What?" The prone player snapped, shaking her hands off.

"It's time to get up." She sniffed and walked over to wake Cronan up, his reaction was pretty much the same. Then the smell of delicious beef wafted into his nostrils, on the spit were three of the pieces of meat, cooked to juicy perfection.

"That looks great!" Cronan grabbed his meal off of the spit and bit into it. The look on his face prompted Vlinn to try the beef himself, he took a bite and smiled, it was good, better than the damn bread they had been eating for almost a month.

"It's good!" Vlinn commented through mouthfuls, Sky smiled sheepishly before gorging herself on her own food. As Cronan licked his fingers clean he realized how much he had missed meat as a portion of his diet, he would have to make sure to go back after those cows at some point.

"Let's go into town." Sky said suddenly, drawing the other player's attention.

"Why would we want to do that?" Cronan demanded between bites and Vlinn raised my eyebrow questioningly at the girl.

"Something to do?" She shrugged.

"You want to risk our lives…for 'something to do'?" Cronan stared at her incredulously.

"We wouldn't be risking our lives any more than usual." The swords woman pointed out. "We're going to go out in a minute to fight Grizzleclaw no matter what." This was true, Vlinn mused, if they had to fight they might as well do something more than sit on their hands for the rest of the dat.

"So instead of coming back in here and being bored I figured another trip into town wouldn't hurt." She shrugged again and Cronan glanced at Vlinn for help, who instead, smiled and shook his head gently.

"Why not?" Vlinn replied with a grin. "I was thinking of buying a shield anyway." Cronan shrugged in defeat and the party readied their selves for the battle with the bear. The battles continued to shorten with the monster, with Sky ending him on that day. It gave the players confidence whenever they slayed the huge beast, it felt like they could take on any creature on this floor without fear.

As the group made its way towards Torubana Town they were once again assaulted by a wolf but he too stood no chance against their strength. Vlinn dashed forward, plunging his spear into the wolf before it could move. The animal burst into red data fragments and drifted off into space as he spun my spear a few times and then returned it to its sheath. With that interruption dealt with the party continued on their short journey into town.

It was just as boisterous as it had been the day before, much to the players' annoyance. Cronan grabbed his companions and skirted around the larger crowds, slowly making their way to the blacksmith shop.

"Well that was fun." Cronan remarked as he finally managed to push his comrades into the appropriate street, Vlinn grunted crossly and lead the way down the street and into the shop.

"May I see your wares?" He asked the NPC, activating his inventory. Behind him his friends milled about the shop, just examining things, Sky occasionally touching something and activating her search skill. The elder player ignored her and scrolled through the inventory, eyes scanning down the list until he found what he was looking for, Wooden Buckler, a beginner shield.

The player smiled and tapped on the items icon and heard a small ding as the purchase was confirmed. He stepped away from the counter and brought up his equipment screen, aware that Cronan had approached the NPC behind him. Vlinn ignored them and cycled through the items, eventually finding and selecting the new shield. In a white flash of light the shield appeared on his left arm and he lifted the arm experimentally and found that he could still move as easily as I had before.

Sky approached as Cronan finished his shopping and they left the small shop, heading back to the square, Cronan manipulated his menu as they walked, not bothering to pay attention to his environment. Sky meanwhile simply walked on, staring ahead.

As the party approached the town square the normal din of the crowd had died down, replaced with one voice. The man, for it was a player, stood atop the fountain that sat in the middle of the area and shouted down to the crowd.

"Join and you will find safety in numbers, you will have food, you will have pay and you will find your way home. Join the Aincrad Liberation Squad! Together we can win this game!"

"Aincrad?" Cronan whispered.

"It's what this world is called," Vlinn said in a hushed tone. "Jeez read the guide. They must be some kind of guild or something."

"We can create an army!" The man continued emphatically. "We can defeat Kayaba Akihiko and his sick game! We will fight for the players!" Most of the crowd cheered for him, but some of the more reserved players stayed silent. It was not easy to trust people in this world, not when lives were on the line. With the speech over, thankfully the group had only caught the end of it; the crowd began to mill about again.

The man returned to his companions, none of them seeming very strong or charismatic. Vlinn shared a skeptical glance with Cronan, while Sky simple shrugged. The party wandered around the square for a bit, killing time until a shop caught the elder player's eye. It was a cozy little tea shop, much like the one in the beginning city, he had not had a chance to try the tea in this world yet and he could not think of a better time than that moment.

He dragged his friends into the shop and sat them down for a cup of tea. The mint tea tasted wonderful compared to some that he had drank in the real world. The thought of home rose up in the player's head and he fought them and the sick feeling back down and drained the last of his cup. It suddenly did not taste as good anymore.

After they had left the tea shop behind the party continued to wander around the square, which they would later find out was called Fountain square, how original. A loud ruckus caught the party's attention and they followed the noise over to a small group of people that had formed a semi-circle. At its center stood some of the men with the "army" that had just spoken, they seemed to be speaking loudly with a young female player, she couldn't have been more than twelve and she looked nervous.

"-now pack up! This is a place for players to get ready for battle, not to sell your useless crap!" One of the men berated her, the girl seemed ready to cry, tears were beginning to form at the corners of her eyes.

"What's the problem?" Cronan spoke to the man, Vlinn glanced to his left and realized he was gone, how had he gotten into the center without his comrade noticing?

"It's not your problem that's for sure." One of the players snorted.

"You seem to be bothering her." Sky stepped protectively in front of the girl. Hadn't Sky just been next to him too? Son of a bitch how did they keep doing that?

"We aren't bothering _her_ ; she's bothering everybody else, trying to sell her useless junk." All eyes moved to the girl.

"I-I don't have v-very much money." She twiddled her fingers and attempted to avoid eye contact.

"Then get out there and fight!" One of the army guys said lewdly. The girl mumbled something incoherently and the man leaned in closer. "Come again?"

"I'm too scared!" Tears were running down her cheeks and Vlinn could not stay out of the altercation any longer, he pushed his way through the crowd and stood next to the girl, by his companions.

"It's okay to be scared." The player said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "And it's okay to not want to fight. Why shouldn't she sell her goods? Others might need them more than her."

"It's a waste of time." The leader of this group stepped forward, puffing out his chest. "She should be out fighting, helping us end this game sooner." Vlinn glared at the man.

"She is helping in a way." He continued assertively. "She's supporting those that fight with items they might need, if anything we should be encouraging player owned shops, better that other players get our Col than the game itself." The man spit on the ground near him, gross, and turned away. Evidently he had had enough, he signaled for his lackeys to follow him and they left, the crowd parted to make room and then slowly dispersed.

The party heard a sniff behind them and turned to find the girl trying to brush away her virtual tears.

"Thank you." She said quietly. "I don't have much money to give you or anything…" She looked away from them, embarrassed.

"We don't want your money." Sky said gently.

"If anything we'd like to see your shop." Vlinn smiled, hoping that the girl wouldn't cry anymore.

"Really?"

"I'm sure you have some interesting things." Cronan scratched the back of his head, more out of habit than need. The girl smiled slightly and then sat down on the blanket she had been using as a makeshift stall. She brought up her inventory and pressed the show option so the players could look through one at a time. Vlinn glanced through her items, it was mostly useless things that he did not want to buy, but he would have felt bad not giving the poor girl something, she was probably starving.

The player clicked his upper and lower right canines together as he continued to search her wares, finally stopping at an interesting piece, a Wooden Ocarina.

"Is this like the instrument?" He asked, selecting the item.

"Oh yes!" The girl said excitedly, seeming to forget about the idiots that had antagonized her. "My friend made it with his wood carving skill." The girl's expression saddened a little Vlinn noticed, along with his companions behind him.

"How much do you want for it?"

"Erm…one hundred and twenty?" She said hesitantly.

"I'll give you one fifteen." She nodded vigorously and brought up the trade menu, he put in the appropriate amount of Col and as an afterthought the Cream item. The player-merchant glanced at her customer curiously. "Put it on bread, it will make it taste like a donut." Her lips spread into a smile and she accepted the trade. "It's from a level one quest. All the enemies are level one and non-aggressive so you could kill them with no problem. Plus they drop beef; if you were to collect a lot of that you could probably sell it at a decent price."

"I think you're right." She said, still smiling. "Where's the quest giver?"

"One town back." Sky said." In Horunka village, bring a friend with you, if you kill the whole heard a level two monster appears, you'll want to be careful but you should be okay." The little shop-keep nodded again.

"Thank you three so much!" It didn't seem possible but her smile widened all the more. It was kind of nice helping someone. "Does anyone else need something?"

"Yeah I wouldn't mind looking." Cronan said, kneeling in front of her. The girl offered her screen to him and he looked through for a couple of seconds before finding something interesting. "Where did you get this?" The warrior demanded. Sky and I peeked over our friends shoulder and from what I could read the item in question appeared to be ore of some kind.

"My friend again," She frowned and her depressed expression returned. "He was a beta tester so he knew a lot of secrets and he would take me out with him, I'm terrible at fighting…so I would just carry everything he found for him. He died recently." Her face became downcast quickly.

"I'm sorry." Sky said softly. The girl shook her head and brushed away tears that began to form.

"No, I am!" She stared at Cronan. "Would you like to purchase them? It will be two hundred Col for the all of them." Cronan said nothing, he simply entered the amount of Col and the transaction went through.

"Thank you all so much!" The merchant bowed her head slightly. "My name is Siraya. Please visit me again."

"We will!" Sky said and smiled at the girl.

"Be careful and good luck." And with that the group left her vending area and made their way through town toward the exit that would take them to the forest. As the players walked Vlinn took note of some of the army guys glaring at us.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to attack us before we leave town."

"They can't." Sky said nonchalantly.

"Huh?"

"You can't attack another player in town, the system doesn't allow it. You can only fight duels in towns." She looked at him curiously. "I thought you knew that." He did not, the older player had never watched Kyle duel anyone and he did not know why it did not cross his mind that you could "I guess that explains why you were so paranoid about the other players on the first day." The female finished with a shrug and then fell silent.

As they continued to the cave, Sky remained quiet and Cronan only made the occasional pondering noise as he examined his menu while he walked. When they finally entered the cave Vlinn was overjoyed to see that Grizzleclaw had yet to re-spawn. They could miss one night of killing the bear; he certainly would not mind a break.

As soon as they entered the campsite Cronan dropped himself in front of his forge and held his hands out for weapons. His companions obliged and then collapsed onto separate bed rolls; Vlinn stared at the back of his eyelids for a moment then opened them and his menu. He materialized the ocarina and examined it briefly.

There was a small mouth piece, four holes where the fingers of his right hand would go on the right side of the instrument, and three on the left side. Then there was a small hole for a thumb on the bottom that he could only assume was to control the octave.

The player shrugged and brought the mouth piece to my lips, he began experimenting with the sounds, seeing what the instrument could do. Meanwhile Cronan pounded out the weakness in their weapons; Sky eventually got up and put dinner on the cooking spit. Vlinn continued to mess around with his new toy all the while.

The notes weren't always pretty, but he finally realized how much he had missed hearing music. A quick glance at his friends told him they felt the same as they both smiled slightly, for the first night in a few of days. And so he played his ocarina, Cronan beat out the imperfections in their weapons and Sky made them dinner, smiling all the while.


	4. A Proposition

**A/n:** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _A Proposition_**

 ** _December 1_** ** _st_** ** _, 2022 8:48 am_**

A few days after the incident at Fountain Square, the first day of December rolled around, or as it was called in SAO, the Month of Holly. It had been agreed upon the night before that the group would venture into Torubana to see if Siraya had acquired any beef. It would have been cheaper to just head straight to the cow herds and get it on their own, they would have been gaining experience too, but the party felt the need to support the little girl.

That morning the battle with Grizzleclaw went by even faster than usual, with Cronan taking hits and not worrying about his health. Vlinn delivered the final blow that morning, putting his spear into old Grizzleclaw's eye. After the battle they left the cave, taking their time as the party strolled along the forest path. Cronan dug into the pouch on his belt and pulled out a small red bottle, a Health Potion. The thin warrior un-corked the bottle and drained it in one swig.

"I love the taste of these." He commented, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. His health bar would slowly start to rise over the next few minutes; potions took time to take effect. Thankfully the forest was very desolate of monsters, so there was no need for the players to be on guard.

The path took us straight into town and per usual there were hundreds of players milling about the town. Vlinn grimaced and began the difficult journey to the square. Siraya was in the same spot where they had left her several days prior; the young player welcomed the group to her "shop" with a warm smile.

"Hello! I'm so glad to see you all again!" The little girl beamed at her "heroes", and they grinned in return.

"Hello Siraya." Sky kneeled beside the girl. "How has business been?"

"Oh it's been wonderful! Ever since my friend and I collected all that beef people have stopped by every day!"

"How have you been keeping your stock up then?" Cronan glanced down at the wee merchant.

"My friend and I are business partners now." She answered, still smiling. "He goes and completes the quest, and then brings all of the items here and I sell them and then we split the profits. I'm even starting to sell all the Cream we're acquiring." Her cheeks tinged a slight red. "Um, e-except for the one you gave me of course." She glanced at the older player and then looked away, hiding behind her bangs.

"Aw, I'm glad you like it." He smiled cheerily, how nice of her. Cronan rolled his eyes at his oblivious friend as Sky and Siraya traded. Soon enough they were on their way with a replenished stock of food and Siraya was that much richer. The players wandered about like the crowds, just looking for something to kill time. Cronan spied a small restaurant and the group supposed it would be nice to have something new, but as they continued on toward it the party was cut off by a small group of players. Sky immediately recognized one as the man that had spoken for the "army" the other day and sent a seething glare at him. The man at the front of the group, took note of the look the smaller player was sending their way but choose to ignore it and instead addressed the small party.

"I was told that you had a dispute with some of my guild mates." The man had orange spiky hair, a sword was strapped to his back and he wore basic metal armor.

"Yeah," Vlinn spoke first. "Your so called army was picking on an innocent player."

"Ah yes, the little beggar girl."

"She's a merchant!" Sky snapped, eyeing him angrily. The man held up his hands peaceably.

"I am not here to argue. I am here to make you an offer."

"We don't-"

"What kind of offer?" Cronan cut the shorter player off before she could yell at the man further.

"Finally, someone who sees a little reason." The man grinned haughtily. "My name is Kibaou. I'm the leader of the Aincrad Liberation Squad and as you may know we are working to clear the game. But before we can do that we need to clear this damn floor first."

"So where do we come in?" Vlinn asked, crossing his arms. "I don't want to put us in needless danger."

"You'll find that this whole world is needlessly dangerous." Kibaou eyed the player with contempt. "My guild is having trouble completely mapping out the dungeon, and I believe it's due to their lower levels and their lack of experience. If you don't mind me asking, what are your levels?"

"Eight." Vlinn answered confidently. The snake of a man smiled at them.

"It seems we have something in common then. You all seem to be experienced in handling field work considering you don't live in town."

"How would you know that?" Sky narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"I did my homework after your incident with my men. Regardless, I propose that you finish mapping out the dungeon for us, or at least up to the boss room. I'll give you the data for what we have currently mapped. In return my guild is prepared to offer you three hundred Col."

"You want us to risk our lives for chump change?" Vlinn scoffed and turned his back to the offending player. "We'll pass." He had not even taken a step when Kibaou stopped him.

"Well, if you were willing to wait to get paid after the boss fight, I could raise it to four hundred." _Now_ he had caught Vlinn's attention.

"What exactly makes us more qualified?" Cronan looked at the man distastefully.

"We know where you live; we've seen that thing you kill every day." Cronan felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, this man or at least his soldiers had found their camp. It was supposed to be a safe haven for the group and now he felt more vulnerable than ever. "My men followed you that day and then reported to me, just in case I wanted revenge. You really should start leaving a guard." Vlinn grounded his teeth together and clenched his fists.

"It doesn't seem like we have much of a choice then does it?" Cronan said, Sky glared at Kibaou, whom simply smiled at them.

"Fine." Vlinn snapped glaring daggers at the man. "You have a deal."

"Good. Now," He brought up the trade menu. "Here is the map data and three teleport crystals." The mid-sized player blinked in surprise, crystals were items whose effects could be used instantly unlike potions. It was rare to come across them on the lower floors and to buy them was immensely expensive.

"Seems your pockets are deep," Cronan commented dryly.

"We make sure our warriors are prepared." He replied simply. "Consider them a down payment." Vlinn accepted the trade and then his friend request, if he was on his friends list the players would be able to send him messages and know where he was at any given time, then by that account he too would have access to their location. Vlinn growled and began to stalk away.

"I will send you a message later asking for an update." He called after them, no one bothered to reply.

The companions took a moment to collect themselves at the nearby tea shop, using the quiet atmosphere to attempt to calm down.

"How much bread do we have?"

"Enough to last us a couple days." Sky manipulated her menu quickly. "That's of course assuming we only eat twice a day." Cronan drummed my fingers on the table and stared out the window, watching players shop and chat as Vlinn and Sky ran down a quick checklist of their supplies.

"Why don't you bring up the map data?" Cronan suggested finally, Vlinn grunted and did so, setting his screen to show mode. The party examined the map before them for a moment. "Looks like they have the entire floor mapped out, so why haven't they found the boss?"

"There are stairs here." Sky pointed at a small icon on the map. "There must be multiple floors."

"Great." The elder player grumbled, closing the dungeon map and opening one that showed the entire first floor of Aincrad. "It looks like we're only about thirty minutes away from the dungeon." He said, gesturing at the icon that marked the dungeon. "We'd better start moving if we want to get this done."

It only took the group twenty five minutes as they moved at a forced march, this time Cronan kept his complaints to himself. They were forced to venture through an unfamiliar part of the forest but thankfully, did not run into any monsters, the forest seemed quiet.

They arrived at the tower and stood for a moment to observe. The tower climbed thousands of feet in the air to touch the floor above, the second floor of the floating castle, Aincrad. However, part of the tower began as a maze; thankfully that was what the map data had shown them. With it the players carefully and safely navigated the maze, eventually ending up at the stairs that would take them to the second floor of the dungeon.

At the top of the stairs was a small safe area, with several players and groups resting. Vlinn nodded to a nearby group and they nodded back. The party carefully approached them, and Sky began the conversation.

"Hello." She said sweetly, to which the leader of the party, a large man with a two-handed sword, simply nodded back. "We've never been here, what can you tell us about the monsters?" For a moment the man didn't reply, and Cronan thought he would ignore them.

"It's mostly Kobolds." He finally said gruffly. "And the occasional wolf, the wolves are about one level stronger here than the ones outside. The Kobolds are level six, as long as you're careful they shouldn't be a problem."

"Thank you," She smiled. "How deep does it go?"

"We don't know." The man shrugged. "My group has mapped as far as the seventh floor and it doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon."

"Oh." Sky, tapped her cheek lightly. "We were only given data for the first floor." The man glanced at her then sighed.

"Here," He brought up the trade menu with his map data on it.

"For us?" Cronan asked. The party leader nodded and shrugged.

"We were just about to head back anyway." Sky did a quick head count of the group, put in enough cooked beef for all of them and accepted the trade. The party leader glanced at her quizzically.

"It's good." She promised. "Thank you for the map." With that both parties left the safe zone in opposite directions; the unfamiliar party heading back into town and the small group venturing into the true dungeon for the first time. With the help of the map data and several players they ran into, the party managed to safely make its way to the eighth floor. And then it got difficult.

The Kobolds were out in abundance and each fight, while not being as difficult as Grizzleclaw, was time consuming. Kobolds were small black, goblin like creatures wielding swords and using sword skills like players, the party was able to finish one easily, but it was their sheer numbers that made the battles so arduous.

They found themselves at dead ends a lot, and it was only by Cronan's sense of direction that they ever made it to any of the stair ways. By the time the party had reached the thirteenth floor, it had already been several hours and they were exhausted. The players stayed in the safe room catching their breaths and a quick snack.

They had not come close to dying yet, but that did not mean it would not happen eventually. And it was that thought that exhausted them far more than the actual fighting. The players agreed that when they reached the fourteenth floor they would settle down for the night. Thankfully the current floor the group was on was sparsely populated with monsters; however there _was_ a fake wall that Sky found with her searching ability. As she touched a stone it depressed and a door sized section of wall slid to the side.

Vlinn expected to see a treasure chest, instead in the small room a rack sat bolted to the wall. Hanging off of it from the belt of the brown leather scabbard, was a very thin sword.

"Looks like a rapier." Cronan observed, he glanced at Sky. "Didn't you say that the Rapier weapon skill popped up into your skill menu this morning?"

"Well, yeah-"

"Then go." Vlinn gave her a small shove. "It's yours, you opened the door…wall…thing." Gleefully the girl took the sword from the rack, it disappeared into her inventory in a flash of white light. Quickly she manipulated her menu and with another flash, the thin sword appeared on her hip.

"It's called _Gobelpierce_." She read off of her equipment screen. "It does increased damage to any Goblin like creature, it must have been made for this dungeon." She smirked at Vlinn. "And you thought the search skill was stupid."

He held up his hands peaceably, maybe she was right…this once. The party continued through the floor, encountering only one Kobold. Sky put her new weapon to use, true to its description the creature went down in two hits.

"You be forward from now on then." Vlinn suggested, signaling her to take the lead. The forward was the player that went first and attacked the monsters first to draw their attention. Vlinn had initially been the forward due to his shield and the reach his spear offered.

Eventually the party found the stairs that lead them into the safe zone of the fourteenth floor. Sky passed out the food and Cronan took a swig from his water bottle before eating the bread. After wards the players divided up the shifts that they would sleep in. Vlinn took the first watch, during which nothing occurred, there were no players this deep into the dungeon and since we were in a safe area no monsters would be prowling about.

But he did not trust that bastard Kibaou to not send someone. His shift ended when Sky woke up and took over and the older player slept rather peacefully for being in the middle of a monster filled dungeon.

The next morning they continued their dive, sweeping through monster infested floor after floor. Their days with Grizzleclaw had made the players strong; there was no creature in this dungeon they could not slay, save for the boss. But the group had no intention of ever seeing the boss, ever.

Within four hours they finally staggered into the safe zone of the nineteenth floor. They stopped for a breather and Vlinn pulled out his water bottle and downed a swig. They collectively checked over their equipment as had become habit between each floor. After a short conversation they decided to let Cronan do a quick repair job.

Thirty minutes later they were once again stalking the dimly lit corridors of the dungeon. The floors and walls were cobblestone and the torches that burnt in sconces were very ill placed. The distance between flames causing huge gaps of darkness, it made the overall depressing vibe even more so.

Boots clicked loudly on the stone as the party walked down the corridor, normally there would have been several turns at that point, but this floor seemed rather straight forward. None of them dare spoke; the darkness seemed to forbid it, even their breathing felt far too loud. So, on they walked, in silence, expecting some creature or another to leap at them from the dark. But no attack ever came, this floor was completely silent.

Eventually they came to a divergence where the hallway split in two and in the middle a tall man leaned against the wall that split the two halls. His long grey hair was pulled back into a pony tail, he bore full armor, not unlike Cronan and had a shield and sword strapped to his back. The man chewed on a loaf of bread silently.

"Um…hello?" Sky said quietly.

"Good evening." The man swallowed before replying and then flashed a bright smile. "I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that made it all the way up here."

"So are we." Cronan said, glancing down either corridor. "Any idea which way goes where?" The man had taken another bite of bread, so he politely chewed his food and then, again, swallowed before answering.

"That path," He indicated the hallway to their right. "Contained a trapped treasure chest, which I just opened. My apologies." He bowed his head, the fact that he bowed implied he was a Japanese player, which is where the most Nervegears had been sold. The only reason the American could even understand him at all was all due to the Nervegears translation application.

"Do you mind if we ask what's in it?" Vlinn asked curiously. The man grinned and chuckled softly.

"This bread!" He held up his half eaten prize and laughed. The party chuckled along and Vlinn shook his head, the game _would_ booby trap a bread chest wouldn't it?

"What about the other corridor?" Sky gestured to our left.

"Ah, now that is an entirely different story." The man finished his meal and dusted off his hands. "That leads to the mini boss of this dungeon and I was just going to try my luck against him. Would you care to join me?" He flashed another smile at them and equipped his shield. The party glanced at each other and exchanged shrugs.

"Sure," The eldest player said returning his smile. "My name is Vlinn and this is Sky and Cronan." They each smiled at the mention of their names.

"A pleasure to meet you. My name is Heathcliff."


	5. Getting Paid

**A/N: Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Getting Paid_**

 ** _December 2_** ** _nd_** ** _, 2022 2:35 pm_**

It didn't take very long for the now strengthened party to reach the mini boss from the split. Before them stood a light blue kobold, he wore full plated armor and carried a lengthy halberd. As the sword skill system targeted him his name was revealed Kobold Elite Guard. The monster had yet to notice their presence and so he paced the length of the circular chamber he was in.

And so the players crashed into him, refusing to give him a chance to harm them in return. Vlinn lead the charge with his high Sprint skill, his spear glowed and the warrior crossed the distance in a matter of moments, the creature parried his blow aside just in the nick of time. Vlinn did not slow; he sprinted past the monster, avoiding its counter-attack, as Sky leaped forward stabbing in to the creature. Before the kobold could attack its new opponent, the little swords-woman back flipped away, leaving room for Cronan to bull in.

The enemy swung its weapon at him but the lean warrior let it hit, trading blow for blow. Eventually his health got too close to the yellow section and Cronan was forced to switch with the newest addition to their party.

Heathcliff strode into the confrontation like the entire battle was his to control and it very much was. The kobold never got a clean hit on him, whenever its weapon moved it seemed as though his shield was there to catch it. Before long the kobold exploded into red data fragments and the large knight sheathed his sword.

After the battle the party decided it was best to take a break for the moment and let their bodies rest. As Vlinn slumped against the wall Heathcliff strode over to join him.

"You're fast." He commented, seating himself next to his fellow player.

"Thank you." Vlinn grinned in return, coming from him it felt like a huge compliment.

"Why are you using a spear? You're fast and you seem to favor charging type attacks, an assault spear is very ill suited for that style of combat. Although it's better than a hammer I suppose." The man chuckled and glanced at Vlinn.

"Well…our first day here I had an incident. I froze up and I couldn't attack. The spear gives me distance and I like the safety in that." Why was he telling this man that? They had just met him so why was he emanating such a trustworthy feeling.

"I can understand that." He mused, scratching his chin. "But you know, there cannot be risk without reward. You want to protect your friends over there don't you." When Vlinn did not answer he continued. "Sometimes protecting others means letting go of your own fears, putting your life on the line." With that said he opened his menu and scrolled through it.

A trade request opened in front of the player and he eyed it wearily.

"I acquired a halberd from that last battle, if you want it it's yours. I just want you to know that perhaps a curved sword would be better for you. You could keep a shield so long as you kept it small like your buckler." The man looked away from his new companion, giving Vlinn a moment to think.

Did he really need a spear? After a moment of thought Vlinn declined the trade. Heathcliff said nothing; he simply smiled and clapped the player's shoulder before getting up and strolling over to the others. After a moment Vlinn followed and they all left through the door that would bring us to the twentieth floor.

This floor would turn out to be the last floor of the dungeon, as such it was not very large, and it possessed a single straight forward corridor that ended in two humongous double doors, doors that lead to the boss fight.

"Shall we take a look?" Heathcliff smiled pleasantly and before anyone could stop him he shoved open the door. In the center of the room stood a huge kobold, his skin or fur, was deep crimson and his deep set eyes glowed red behind his dog-like snout. On one arm sat a shield, in his hand was a gigantic axe. "Hmm," The large knight pondered. "Well I think that's enough for me for today, you aren't thinking of fighting him are you?" He looked at the players seriously.

"No." Cronan said, still staring at the boss, above its head sat Illfang The Kobold Lord. "Our job is done." Beside him Sky glanced at the creature and shuddered.

"Very well then, I will be taking my leave." Heathcliff dug into the pouch on his belt and produced a teleportation crystal. "It was nice meeting you all, be smart and stay alive." With that said he raised the crystal above his head said "The town of Beginning." And crushed the crystal, in a flash of white light the powerful man was gone.

"He was interesting." Sky observed, soliciting a snort from Vlinn.

"You would think that you flirty ho." He ignored her outrage and brought his menu up, collecting the teleportation crystals and materializing them. After distributing the teleportation crystals that the army had given them the party copied Heathcliff's movements and before they knew it they were all enveloped in light.

When the flash cleared the players found themselves in the starting town. Behind them sat an arch of neatly stacked stones, the teleportation gate. The group found some benches nearby and made themselves comfortable as Vlinn brought up his friends list and sent a message to Kibaou informing him that they were in front of the teleport gate. Almost instantly the player received a reply informing him that the Army leader would be there soon.

As they waited for their benefactor to arrive Vlinn materialized his ocarina and started playing softly, trying not to drown out the background music that was played by virtual orchestras on every floor.

Thankfully they were not made to wait long; soon the spiky haired bastard arrived demanding the map data. Vlinn traded the valuable information to him and in return he gave the party two hundred Col.

"You'll get the other half once the boss is defeated."

"Not if you're dead." Cronan snorted, the man glared at him and the taller player stared daggers back.

"Fear not, you're being paid by the guild, not me. Even if I die you'll still receive your payment."

"Good." Cronan said bluntly, examining the teleportation gate. Kibaou looked at our well armored friend again but chose to ignore his comment.

"Would you like to know some information about the boss?" Sky asked, seeing it more as saving lives than helping him.

"No," He dismissed her with a wave. "Argos hand book is more than enough." Argo's handbook was written by a beta tester in an attempt to teach noobs all of the basics, if it was not for that book the group probably would have died a long time ago. "You will be contacted in a few days with your payment." With that he turned on his heel and left, good riddance.

"Well what now?" Sky pondered out loud. What indeed?

"I don't think we should go back to the cave." Cronan said, still looking at the gate, we've got some spare cash now, I say we just rent some rooms at the inn, maybe go out for dinner."

"That sounds like a really good idea." Vlinn smiled, they could use a break.

Two days later they would find out that the first floor had finally been cleared, after a month the players could move on to the second floor. And so they did, people flocked to the teleportation gates by the thousand. The group waved to Siraya and who, Sky guessed, was her business partner as we slowly made our way to the gate.

In a flash of light they were gone and soon the players were staring at a series of flat topped mountains that stretched out for leagues. The town they were in, Urbus, was in the center of a huge crater on the top of one of the mountains. Later Kibaou would meet the party in person to exchange the rest of the money.

"Keep in touch." He said as he stalked away.

"Totally." Vlinn mumbled as he deleted him from his friends list.

After one month in this world they had finally made it to the second floor, now it was time for the players to start making true progress.


	6. The Second Floor and What Lie There

**A/N: Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _The Second Floor and What Lie there_**

 ** _December 9_** ** _th_** ** _, 2022 10:12 am_**

For the next week they spent their days simply finding important stores in the city, there was even another tea shop, although their tea was far more bitter than the shop in Torubana. The party had managed to acquire a fairly large room in one of the smaller inns on the outskirts of the city. After they were comfortable with the layout of the city, the group moved on to the entire second floor. From information gleaned from other players, some inexpensive maps and a little private exploration they managed to finally piece together a decent image of the floor.

To the west of Urbus lay a vast savannah filled with buffalo looking monsters, beasts that the three players killed by the dozens on a daily basis. Beyond the savannah lay a wasteland, several front line players had warned them extensively to stay away from that part of the floor and Cronan and Vlinn were not ones to ignore enforced advice, Sky took a little more convincing.

On all other sides of the crater city were multiple mountain ranges, all seemingly with flat tops. The dreary floor was a vast change compared to the varied first floor but there was not much the players could do, they had to keep moving up, floor by floor. After the initial week in the city the group decided it was time to explore the floor themselves.

The gate to the city was situated on the rim of the crater that Urbus sat in, which thankfully was close to the inn that they resided in. The ten minute walk was filled with laughter and happy go lucky chatter. For once it felt good to explore an area, after their adventure in the first floor dungeon Vlinn had assumed that at least one of the three would have been scarred from exploring. However the companions did not seem bothered at all by the prospect of hidden dangers, the warrior chuckled as Cronan teased Sky for some reason or another.

As the party left the city Cronan steered the conversation to a more business like subject.

"Any thoughts on where we want to go?" He asked, eyeing his friends. Vlinn shrugged and Sky tapped her chin thoughtfully, glancing at out surroundings.

"There!" She said finally, pointing at one of the nearby mountains. This also happened to be the tallest mountain on the floor.

"You're joking…" Vlinn stared at the small girl who smiled innocently back.

"Looks like fun." Cronan commented dryly, not looking the least bit amused.

"I'm glad you think so!" The swords woman chirped, before grabbing her companion's arms and dragging them toward the base of the large mountain. It was hard to deter her once she had set her mind to something so Cronan and Vlinn simply let themselves be dragged along. Once they had reached the base of their intended destination the group took a short break to take stock of their inventory.

The party had an ample supply of food and healing potions, and as long as they were careful, Sky thought they would be fine. Although Vlinn voiced his desire for teleportation crystals, a sentiment they all shared, they had shopped for them in town before leaving and had found that the small crystals were quite expensive. If they wanted to keep sleeping inside where it was safe, then the party would need to forgo the luxury of an extra safety net. It seemed like a foolish trade off but after sleeping on the ground for over a month in a cave the players had begun to appreciate the finer things in life, such as beds.

"Why do we have to go up this particular one?" Vlinn groaned as they began the trek up the mountain.

"Because it's the tallest one!" Sky bounced beside him, her Acrobatics skill was higher than either of her comrades, so they struggled to keep up with her. "There is bound to be something up there!" With that she leapt up to an outcropping and used it as a step to bounce again to a higher ledge.

"I'm going to kill her." Vlinn grumbled as he climbed; hand over hand, up the cliff side. Cronan grunted beside the shorter warrior, his higher strength rating made climbing fairly easy for him, even with his full chainmail armor. "One of these days, I'm going to snap and kill her." Vlinn gritted his teeth and pushed his body upwards.

Halfway through the day they managed to reach a large outcropping a little over three quarters up the mountain. The outcropping was large enough for the three to sit comfortably with enough space between each other to stretch out, so they decided to break for lunch.

The inn that the players currently stayed at had a kitchen available to players so the day before they made the decision to explore the mountain ranges Sky had taken a few hours to cook up all of the buffalo meat that the group had acquired from their daily outings to the savannahs and plains.

Cronan bit into the meat and savored the juices that flowed over his tongue. She was definitely getting better at this and the tall warrior found himself wondering how high her cooking skill was as he nibbled on his lunch.

After all of the buffalo type monsters the party had killed they had only gained one level from their previous status, leaving them at level ten. As Vlinn chewed his own lunch he opened up his skill menu and scrolled through, currently he only had seven skill slots; Musical instrument, which was just below one hundred. Leather equipment, one-handed assault spear, light shield, Sprint, acrobatics and parry. None of my skills were at a very impressive level (minus his Sprint skill) but it would be enough for now.

After lunch the group continued their journey to the top of the mountain, as they reached greater heights further toward the top, much of the mountain leveled out. So instead of climbing the side they ended up just trekking up steep hills until eventually they reached the altitude at which the top of the mountain leveled off completely.

The top of the mountain had a very pleasant environment, it was mostly inhabited by trees and if Cronan strained his ears he could hear the slight trickle of a stream somewhere in the vicinity.

"Alright," Vlinn said turning toward Sky. "Where to now?" She tapped her lip ponderously and glanced at Cronan.

"Let's follow the sound of water." He suggested with a shrug, without any better ideas they began searching for the stream. Eventually Sky found it and after alerting her party they followed it for several tens of feet before finding the cavern that it was running from. Without waiting to discuss anything Sky rushed into the cave, wading through the water that almost seemed ready to swallow her.

Seeing no other choice her comrades followed after her, delving into the damp cave. Eventually the steam deepened and the players were forced to swim upstream, thankfully the current wasn't very strong.

As the group drifted down the water several large bats swooped down to attack us and Vlinn had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming, Sky took care of the flying foes with relative ease before they had the chance to target the suddenly pale player.

Eventually the cave opened up into a fairly large clearing and the stream ended (or began) in a large bubbling spring. Near the spring was a large tree and surrounding the clearing was several cliff sides. In the middle of the clearing sat a small, slightly unkempt hut. Before either male player could stop her, Sky once again rushed forward.

"Damn it woman!" Cronan shouted, chasing after her, Vlinn could only chuckle and follow. They found short player staring at the inner surroundings of the hut. It was hardly furnished at all and seemed to only have the bare necessities; the only furniture visible was a small mat which was currently inhabited by a very muscled man.

The man had a clean shaven head which was offset by his large, wild beard. He wore a white cotton gi and he sat in a meditating position, above his head sat the large golden exclamation that designated a quest.

"I told you there would be something here!" Sky said, smiling smugly.

"Yeah…but a quest?" Vlinn crossed his arms over his chest and frowned thoughtfully. "I wonder what it is?"

"Only one way to find out." Cronan said simply, approaching the man. As Cronan neared, the man's eyes snapped open causing the lean warrior to freeze.

"Dost thou wish to be a disciple?" The NPC asked Cronan. The armored man glanced at his friends but they could offer nothing but moral support. If the quest allowed party action the rest could assist. But there was no indication that it did, so if it _was_ a single player quest he was on his own.

"Um." Cronan stuttered. "Sure?"

"Even though the road will be long and arduous?" That caused Cronan to pause for a moment. Beside Vlinn, Sky snorted causing both males to look at her.

"If it's too hard don't take it." She insisted, waving her hand patronizingly. Cronan glared at the girl.

"I'll do it!" He snapped at the large NPC. The big man nodded his head, stood up and led them outside of the hut and toward the cliff sides. Before the party sat a gigantic rock and the man stood beside it, resting his hand against it.

"Your training is this only," He said. "Break this rock with your bare hands and all of my knowledge in the Martial Arts is yours."

"Martial arts? That must be a combat skill!" Vlinn said excitedly. "And it sounds useful, you should do it." Cronan was examining the rock worriedly.

"I don't know…"

"Told you to give up." Sky's tone was slightly condescending and Cronan glared at her again but before he could say anything the large martial artist stepped forward and produced a small jar.

"Once your journey had begun you may not leave this mountain until you split the rock. Thus I must mark you." He opened the jar and dragged his first three fingers through the substance in the jar. Quick as lightning he brushed his fingers against either side of Cronan's face. The tall warrior blinked in surprise at the new set of "whiskers" on his face.

"What the hell?" Cronan scrubbed at his face but the ink refused to lift.

"That mark will not be removed until you finish your training, I believe in you my disciple." With that Cronan's master turned and walked back into his hut.

"Well," Vlinn said after a time. "Might as well try punching that thing." Cronan stared at the warrior and then the rock and with the least amount of effort that had ever been witnessed, lifted his fist and let it fall against the stone.

"Nope." He announced, "It's too hard, guess I'll just walk around with this paint on my face until I die." Sky rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You're such a quitter." She sneered. "Might as well just leave then, you're right. I doubt you could even finish this quest if you were twenty levels higher."

"Hey now…" Vlinn began, surprised at her outburst, Cronan was livid.

"I could finish this if I wanted to!" He snapped, Sky snorted in response.

"You'll just give up because it's too hard." The female swordsman shrugged. Cronan's fist clenched as he moved toward the rock and without another word he smashed his fist into it. Nothing happened, no cracks, not even particles of dust fell. But he didn't react; he simply raised his fist again and pounded it into the stone.

He continued on like this for about ten minutes with still nothing happening and then paused for a moment.

"You're going to want to get comfy." He said quietly and then returned to his "training." Hours passed and still Cronan pounded away at the rock, the taunting had seemingly drawn out the less seen ambitious side of the warrior.

After the first few hours Vlinn fell asleep beneath the single tree in the clearing, before he nodded off the swordsman saw Sky executing her search skill everywhere. The laid-back player scoffed and gently rested his head back against the tree, listening to the sound of trickling water and fists hitting stone.

The player was ripped from his slumber by a loud cracking sound that seemed to shake the mountain itself. Eyes snapped open to find darkness; the player blinked several times and eventually was able to make out two bodies standing next to the remains of the huge rock. Chunks of the stone lay scattered about the clearing and Cronan stood, looking exhausted.

"Wow." Vlinn said simply, neither player had expected him to be able to break that rock so soon or to have the patience to do it.

 _I certainly wouldn't have_ , Vlinn mused, chalking it up to his comrades abnormally high strength stat. "Good job!" He grinned, gently patting the taller player on the back

"I knew you could do it!" Sky said, causing Cronan to stare at her incredulously. "What? I figured you needed some inspiration." She smiled innocently and slowly pulled him to the hut where his master waited.

"I see you managed to complete your training." He said as the trio entered. "And in such a short time, I am honored to teach you my ways." The huge man bowed to Cronan, and the small warrior bowed back. His quest screen would pop up, announcing the experience he got and the new skill that he had acquired. He wasted no time in equipping his hard fought prize.


	7. Men Under the Mountain

**_Men under the Mountain_**

 ** _November 9_** ** _th_** ** _, 2022 9:03 pm_**

 ****Next to the masters mountain sat the second largest mountain on the second floor, it was also the farthest away from the main city. However climbing down it was the shortest route to a nearby village, Marome. The village didn't have a blacksmith, not that the group needed one, but it did have an inn and the players wanted to sleep on a bed for the next night or two. The idea of staying in Cronan's masters house had been thrown around, but they could not be sure what monsters might spawn there in the dark or what kind of players might show up.

So there they were, climbing down a mountain at night, not the smartest thing they had ever done but the players figured as long as they were careful they would be fine. It was around the time that Vlinn was having that thought, that Sky tried to jump farther than her skill would allow.

The small swordsman leapt into open space, closing in on her targeted outcropping, her fingers barely scraped it as she dropped down the narrow crevice.

"Sky!" Vlinn screamed diving toward the edge, grasping for her. His fingertips barely brushed hers and he too would have fallen if not for Cronan. The warrior grabbed a hold of his friend's leg with one hand, stopping Vlinn's movement and then with his free hand he hurled a health potion down at Sky.

"Potion!" He shouted to her, hoping she would catch on, potions took time to take effect so by the time she would start taking damage hopefully she would start regaining health also. The girl caught the bottle by her finger tips, uncorked it and swallowed the whole thing, all while upside down. As soon as she let go of the bottle she rotated herself, midair, and kicked at the nearby wall of the huge crevice.

The force of her kick pushed her backwards into the opposite wall, at which she also kicked, sending her back toward the first wall. Her companions watched as she continued the pattern down into the darkness, until they could no longer see her.

"Shit." Vlinn cursed. "We have to get down there." Cronan stood beside him and unsheathed his large two handed sword Long Iron that he had bought when the players had first arrived on the second floor.

"Hang on to me." He said grim-faced.

"I don't know how comfortable I am with that…" Instead of arguing the lean warrior simply picked Vlinn up like a doll and threw him over his shoulder. "This is seriously demeaning."

Without a word Cronan stepped off of the edge, into the darkness. Vlinn tried miserably to keep himself from screaming, even going so far as to clamp a hand around his mouth, what the hell kind of half-assed plan was this? As they fell Cronan grasped his sword with two hands (leaving Vlinn to hang on to his neck) and plunged the blade into the side of the cliff, slowing their speed considerably.

It seemed to Vlinn like they fell for hours before they finally came to the bottom of the crevice, though it was only several minutes. They hit the bottom and fell unceremoniously into a heap; Vlinn unclamped his hands from around Cronan and slowly stood up. And then took a few shaky steps over to where Sky lay unconscious. Thankfully her health was in the red, she was not going to die, the potion coupled with her little acrobatic stunt had been just enough to save her.

Both conscious players blew out sighs of relief and Vlinn dug around the pouch on his belt until he found a healing crystal. Healing crystals, unlike potions, enacted their effects immediately and thus were very expensive on the lower floors. So players only used them in times of emergency but if this was not an emergency then Vlinn did not know what was.

He pressed the crystal against Sky's forehead and whispered "Heal!" The crystal glowed momentarily and then shattered into dust; He glanced at her health bar and smiled as he saw it begin to rise steadily.

"That was close," Cronan muttered. "We shouldn't have tried to cross the mountain."

"A little late to speak up on that now," His friend snapped, smacking Sky's face lightly. If she had been conscious when he was doing that harassment windows would have been popping up in front of her. "Come on, wake up!" Cronan materialized one of his water bottles and sprinkled some liquid onto the girls face.

Her eyelids fluttered open and she gasped for breath as if she had just been drowning. Her comrades sat back and watched as she calmed herself from a minor panic attack.

"I'm alive." She said eventually, smiling and patting herself all over.

"Barely," Cronan snorted, seating himself next to the girl and Vlinn collapsed with his back against the sheer cliff wall.

"Guess we're spending the night here." Vlinn said, examining the immediate surroundings. Unfortunately he could barely make out his companions three feet in front of him through the darkness, let alone landmarks or other identifying features.

"I don't think any monsters will be spawning here." Cronan said, lying down for the night. Sky shimmied herself so that her back was against the wall opposite the middle sized player, seeing nothing else to do Vlinn materialized his ocarina and played some slow soft notes.

When the morning sun finally shone into the crevice it revealed the only route of escape for the players. A dark, dank cave entrance, Vlinn groaned loudly as they first entered the mouth of the cave. He had received his fair share of time spent in cavernous locations thank you very much. The player shivered slightly as the dankness began to settle into his bones.

Their initial worry was that it would once again get dark enough to where they could not see but the sunlight from outside seemed to penetrate the cave for many tens of feet. It wasn't until the group turned a corner in the cave that the sunlight faded away, only to be replaced with the light of torches.

"Why are there torches here?" Sky asked, examining the closest one. Several tunnels in the cave branched off in different directions but only one possessed torches that seemed to be placed all the way down its length.

"I guess we're following the torches then." Cronan said, eyeing the iron sconces in which they were set. With no other safe option they followed the trail of firebrands that went on for almost a mile, following one tunnel only to switch into a different one at the many junctures they came across.

Eventually the torch lined tunnel opened up into a very large cavernous section of the cave that was lit up by millions of torches and lamps. The lights revealed a small town carved out of stone and milling about the streets were short, stout men and women, most sporting beards.

"What is this?" Sky asked in amazement. "Why is there a town in here?"

"Are those-?"

"Dwarves!" Cronan cried.

The small dwarven town was filled with robust laughter, loud songs and the mindless chatter of crowds. Vlinn found he was having trouble grasping the fact that there was such joy, even from NPC's, in such a dank environment. Yet the town seemed welcoming, all of the NPCs were very friendly in their script and there were shops a plenty in the stone town. The general store had a myriad of items that none of the stores in Urbus possessed and any item that was the same had a severe drop on price. This included the precious teleportation stones.

"Jackpot!" Sky cried, immediately purchasing several teleportation crystals and a few healing crystals as well.

"Reduced price or not," Cronan pointed out. "You still just practically used up all of your Col."

"Don't care! We have teleportation crystals!" Cronan and Vlinn shared skeptical glances; the male players controlled themselves and purchased only one. It was all they really needed anyway, just to get back to Urbus once they were done exploring this town, which the group had found out was called Cobbleburg, rather quaint.

After another hour of shopping the players decided to take a break at a small restaurant. It fell on Vlinn to pay for Sky, since she was now practically bankrupt, after he lost a rather unfair (at least in his opinion) game of rock-paper-scissors. The dwarves' diet seemed to consist mostly of meat they got from the oxen that roamed the mountain tops or the goats that hopped across the outcroppings.

Either was fine with the players so Vlinn settled on a relatively cheap stew with Cronan and Sky (much to Vlinn's chagrin) buying the more expensive steak. After they finished the rather delicious, if a bit tough, meal the group continued to explore the town, eventually finding the town's blacksmith. The shop was far larger than any the group had seen before, three large smoke stacks protruded from the metal shop and spewed out black smoke from the huge forges that sat in separate corners of the shop.

Several dwarves ran to and fro in busy chaos; however one large dwarf sat in an even larger stone chair, tapping his foot agitatedly and stroking his fire red beard, grumbling to himself. Above his head danced a golden exclamation point, our jaws dropped in perfect synchronization.

Who would have thought that there would not only be dwarves in the game, but there would be this town? And now a quest? SAO was an amazing game, you knowing ignoring the ever looming presence of actual death, Vlinn mused. He glanced over at his friends, whose mouths were perfect "O's", and grinned; they smiled back and then approached the muscular dwarf.

"Is something troubling you friend?" Cronan asked drawing a curious stare from whom they could only assume was the master blacksmith.

"And who be 'yah?" He asked gruffly, still stroking his beard.

"Simple travelers," Sky answered, stepping forward. The dwarf raised an eyebrow at her but did not interrupt. "We found your town by accident and were exploring, you seemed troubled so we thought we would offer our services."

"It ain't some simple task." The smith grunted. "I need strong experienced warriors."

"You won't find anyone more experienced than us I can assure you." Vlinn grinned cockily; the dwarf examined him through narrowed eyes.

"Ya look fast lad," The Cardinal System fed his AI program the player's specs so the NPC could come up with the most appropriate response. "But I don't need some little fairy running around." Cronan glanced over and watched with amusement as Vlinn's eye twitched, _fairy_!? Sky opened her mouth to speak but the smith cut her off.

"Pfft." He scoffed at her, waving his hand dismissively. Then his gaze fell on Cronan, he eyed the tall warrior's heavy armor and two handed sword and his system was probably calculating his unusually high strength parameter. "Now this! This is a warrior!" Cronan's face split into a wide grin while his comrades simply looked on in annoyed disbelief.

"Well then," Cronan said happily to the dwarf. "What might I be able to assist you with my friend?" The dwarf chuckled and patted the skinny swordsman on the back.

"Well ya see all of the ore for our metals come outta our own mines. Now lately we haven't been able 'ta get 'ta them see. This monster seems 'ta have taken 'ta livin' there, I'm fer thinkin' it eats the ore."

"So you want us to get rid of it." Sky surmised causing the dwarf to snort.

"Nah, I 'spect him," He jerked his thumb towards Cronan. "'Ta get rid of it. I figure you two will just watch." Sky narrowed her eyes at the smith; the initial wonder she had at this place was starting to wear off.

"Right, well if you'll just point us in the right direction we'll make sure the all-powerful warrior here gets where he's going."

"Be sure ya do." The dwarf grunted. "If you just follow this here road that me shop is on it'll take ya to the mines." A quest confirmation window popped up in front of each of them and the players all hit the accept button and the golden exclamation point above his head turned into a dull silver question mark. "Me name is Bradal, feel free 'ta stock up afore ya leave."

Vlinn grunted and stalked over to the yellow bearded dwarf that sat behind the counter and accessed his goods. As he scrolled through the weapons they had in stock the warrior could not help but think about the conversation he had with Heathcliff. Making an oath to himself, Vlinn purchased a Dwarven steel dagger and sold his shield and spear. As he continued scrolling the player spied an expensive set of armor, after selling his old weapons he had just enough to purchase it.

"What kind of armor is this?" Vlinn asked the NPC whose AI reacted flawlessly.

"That be light metal armor, sir! It doesn't offer as much protection as heavy armor but it doesn't slow ya down in a fight." Vlinn debated over the purchase for about two seconds before hitting the purchase button and then wasted no time in un-equipping his One-handed Assault spear and Light Shield skills in favor of the One-handed Dagger and Light Metal Equipment ones.

His friends watched as Vlinn was enveloped in a flash of white light for a moment and then it dispersed to reveal his new armor and weapon. The dagger was a simple straight dirk that, from hilt to blade tip was as long as his fore-arm, the scabbard sat horizontally on the small of his back.

The armor was quite something; it was based on the player's normal clothing, black pants and a green long sleeved shirt, but with pieces of steel armor thrown in here and there. Vlinn now had a steel gauntlet on each hand, one spaulder sat on his left shoulder and finally a chest piece that just covered his pectoral muscles.

It did not seem to add much protection, but the armor class rating on this was higher than the old leather armor, which he promptly sold afterwards. Vlinn moved his limbs experimentally and found that his movements were not impeded, just as the NPC had said. As it was it seemed the player would have no negative effects on his sprint skill.

"Ooo, I want that!" Sky said, examining her comrade's new armor.

"Too bad you spent all of your money on teleportation crystals." Cronan pointed out, moving towards the door. "If you're ready let's go!" Sky nodded even as she pouted and the two shorter players followed the warrior out onto the stone streets. The smithy was on a small side street that branched off of the main drag, if the group turned right the road would take them back to Main Street, left would take them out of town.

The party made its way out of town and deeper into the caverns of the mountain, following torches and the occasional dwarf with a pickaxe. The tunnel that they followed was simply one turn after the other, never staying straight for more than a couple feet. That is until it opened up into the mines.

All around them more NPC dwarves worked, slamming their tools against stone or pushing mine carts loaded with ore along tracks. Sky brought up her map and peered at it, looking for our quest objectives.

"There's only one objective up besides the final." She said scratching her chin. "And it's somewhere in this area. Looks like it's a little lower than us and to our left." She glanced over the side of the cliff that made a make shift observation deck at the entrance to the mines.

"Elevator's here." Cronan said stepping onto the metal contraption as it stopped in front of us. It was not so much an elevator as it was a long flat piece of metal that was moved up and down by a chain. As it descended slowly Vlinn shifted nervously, this caused the elevator to shake, which then caused the player to fidget even more. "Sit still! Jeez."

Eventually the metal death contraption stopped at the bottom of the mines and Vlinn leapt off quickly. The new area the players had wandered into seemed more like a war zone than a mining operation with dwarves equipped with normal axes instead of pickaxes and battle helms instead of mining helmets. Near some tables and tents stood a dwarf barking out orders, above his head danced a golden exclamation point, though it was smaller and less vibrant than a quest symbol, which made the dwarf an objective in our quest.

"Um, excuse me." Sky said as they approached carefully. The dwarf's head snapped toward the players and he eyed them wearily.

"And what might ya be needin'?" He growled, scratching his shaggy black beard.

"We were sent to kill the monster in these mines." Cronan said loudly, trying to act the confident warrior. "Bradal's orders." The mention of the smith seemed to calm the dwarf general down somewhat.

"Yeah?" He licked his lips and glanced worriedly down the corridor in front of him. "Well if he sent ya then I guess yer alright. The name's Gran, I was sent to try and take this thing out but the only warriors I got were volunteers from the mine. These boys-" He gestured at his assembled dwarves. "They ain't soldiers, they're diggers."

"Well, I believe we can take care of your problem for you." Cronan said with a grin. Gran nodded slowly, still scratching his beard.

"You look capable enough." He said, glancing up and down Cronan. "Yer friends there look like wee fairies-"

"Seriously?!"

"But you look like a fine warrior; the beast is at the end of that tunnel there. Be careful boy." Cronan nodded and then started toward the corridor, signaling at his friends to follow.


	8. Shell of a Time

**A/N: Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Shell of a Time_**

 ** _December 10_** ** _th_** ** _, 2022 12:10 pm_**

The tunnel that would eventually take the party to the monster was quite long and it was populated with only a few monsters, large mole like creatures that couldn't see, perfect for Vlinn to start figuring out how to fight with his new dagger. Eventually they ran out of monsters to kill and still had not reached the end. So the friends spoke of everything they had seen so far, the tunnels, the small stone town and the dwarves.

"I don't remember reading about dwarves in the manual." The mid-sized warrior said. "I don't remember Kyle running into them either."

"They probably weren't here until recently." Sky said, running her hands along the uneven stone wall.

"What?"

"It's how the Cardinal system works." Cronan supplied.

"Cardinal what?"

"And you told me to read the manual." The slim warrior rolled his eyes.

"The Cardinal system," Sky interrupted. "Is the operating system of SAO, it links all of the AI in Aincrad with its own."

"The operating system has artificial intelligence?" Sky nodded and Vlinn whistled quietly. "That's scary."

"After the designers and programmers built Aincrad they instituted the Cardinal system. It runs absolutely everything and it has protocols that can change Aincrad as it sees fit." Cronan pulled out a water bottle and took a swig before continuing. "It takes folk lore that NPC AIs make and makes them real in this world."

"So the dwarves might not have even been her until last week." Sky summarized. That was a lot of power to give to one system or so Vlinn thought. After that the conversations died down and the group simply walked on in silence until they eventually came to a bend in the tunnel. The passageway opened up into another large cavern, similar to the one where all the dwarves had been mining.

Except the only thing that inhabited the opening was their target. The tortoise was larger than a truck and several spikes jutted out of its shell. The shell itself was a rainbow of colors that shifted when he moved. Its powerful jaws were just as tall as Cronan and twice as wide.

"Damn." Cronan commented, voicing their shared sentiment. The party made quick preparations before charging into battle.

Vlinn quickly outdistanced Cronan, with Sky trailing only slightly behind and the player found himself smiling, it felt more comfortable to move about without his shield constantly weighing on his arm. The warrior flipped his new dagger into a reverse grip and held it out to the side letting a blue glow collect on the blade. He released the charging type skill and dashed toward the target, the Gem Shell. Vlinn sped toward the tortoise and leaped bringing the dwarven dagger across its eyes; he spun around upon landing to take in how much damage he had dealt to the monster.

Its healthbar had not moved an inch, the player growled and looked at the beast's eyes only to discover that they were encased in large diamonds.

 _Shit, its armor class must be immense!_ Vlinn cursed inwardly and watched as Sky leaped over the thing's back stabbing furiously at its shell, all of her blows bounced harmlessly off.

"Damn," she spat. "That thing's strong."

"Yeah, we're going to have to wait for Cronan to deal damage to this thing, we'll distract it until then." The taller of the two dashed toward the tortoise and slashed ferociously at its leg, as it turned its face toward him the player cut quickly into its nose and then sped away. Vlinn grinned in satisfaction as he saw its health drop an inch, every little bit helped.

Sky meanwhile leaped at the monster and stabbed Gobelpierce into its armpit, the creature swung its club like tail at her as she leaped into a back-flip. The tail just clipped her foot, sending her into a barrel roll and she dropped unceremoniously onto the ground and the tortoise started to turn toward the fallen girl. Vlinn swore and sped toward his prone comrade; he sprinted past the beast and raked his dagger across the tortoises face.

Grabbing Sky's arm the player continued to run, dragging her away from the Gem Shell. When they stopped and looked back both players breathed easier as they saw that Cronan had finally arrived. The warrior took his two-handed sword and smashed it into the tortoise's shell, the creature's health dropped significantly to the relief of both players.

The Gem Shell turned toward Cronan who roared and swung again, his glowing sword bit into the monsters face and the creature retracted its head hissing loudly.

"No you don't!" The warrior shouted, his Long Iron glowed red and he stabbed forward, driving his blade through the beast's nose and beyond. After a moment Gem Shell exploded into red data fragments and drifted away.

"Nice job." Vlinn said dismissing the loot window, just some Col, and experience. Cronan didn't respond as he seemed to be examining his window intently.

"Get something good?" Sky asked as she slipped Gobelpierce back into its brown scabbard.

"No, just something weird. Shell pieces?" He glanced at his friends and shrugged. The group slowly made its way back out of the tunnel and after they informed Gran of the beast's demise the quest marker pointed out of the death trap and towards town.

When the party entered the shop it looked just as it had when they had left several hours prior, organized chaos. Bradal seemed surprised to see Sky and Vlinn alive but he kept his fairy comments to himself.

"Did that damned beast leave anything behind?" The smith asked Cronan, the warrior nodded and materialized the pieces of shell, which was a mistake. They were almost as tall as he was and made the already cluttered workshop even more so. "Hmm, I could make you some armor out of these." Bradal said as he tapped one with his knuckle. "Harder than most of the steel we have here, probably from all that ore the stupid creature ate. Won't take but a minute!" And so the blacksmith set to work, with Cronan watching eagerly.

With nothing else to do, Sky and I waited, to help pass the time Vlinn quietly played on his ocarina and Sky hummed along happily. Soon enough the dwarf finished his work and gave Cronan his new armor, without a second thought the warrior equipped it and was enveloped in a flash of white light.

The armor was magnificent, it was in the style of scale armor, but instead of metal the scales were made out of the Gem Shell's shell pieces. So each scale on Cronan's armor shone like a rainbow, his two pauldrons seemed to be made out of diamond, much like the monsters eyes. From several places sprouted spikes that seemed to be made of gems, again like the Gem Shell. The spikes grew from the warrior's pauldrons, the knee guards of his grieves and his elbow guards; all in all it was a very flashy set of armor.

"Damn!" Vlinn whistled, causing Sky to giggle.

"This armor is strong too," Cronan said, examining his equipment menu. "A little too strong for the second floor, guess I won't need armor for a while." With the quest finished each player pulled a teleportation gems out of their respective pouches and held them in the air.

"Urbus!" The players cried and each was enveloped in light.

Two days later the front-line players would clear the second floor; it had been less than two weeks since the first floor had been cleared. Now that progress could be made it motivated others to join the front lines attempts to clear the game. And they continued to rise through the floors.

 _"_ _So these...front-liners?" The hostess asked uncertainly, flashing her dazzling smile._

 _"_ _Yes." The black haired young man answered patiently._

 _"_ _Right, these front-liners were kind of like heroes to other players weren't they? Were you a front-liner?"_

 _"_ _I was a solo-player." He said shortly, he didn't want to be on T.V but they had insisted. "And no…not all front-liners were heroes. In fact there weren't that many heroes to begin with in that world. We all did what we had to, to survive, that's all. We did everything for selfish reasons." The hostess paused, quickly thinking of some way to bring this conversation back into a positive light._

 _"_ _So you're saying that no one helped anybody at all?"_

 _"_ _Oh no, we all helped people. But there was always a reason behind it, an agenda."_

 _"_ _I see…Well what about these so-called guilds? Weren't they designed to help people? Like the…" She paused for a moment to glance at her cue cards. "Like this Army." The raven haired boy laughed at this._

 _"_ _They may have started with good intentions…but that changed quickly."_


	9. For Them

**A/N: Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _For Them_**

 ** _December 12_** ** _th_** ** _, 2022 3:13 pm_**

The young girl let out a sigh as she dropped the last of the heavy boxes on the floor of her rented room. Without a second thought she dropped face first on her bed and lay there for a moment as she collected her strength.

"Moving shops is hard," She mumbled into her pillow, this provoked a sigh from the other side of the room.

"If we were real players we wouldn't need to lug these damn things around," The male player growled at her as he dropped his own cargo. The younger player rolled over so she could face her partner.

"You know I don't like fighting," She said quietly, her eyes subconsciously drifted to the floor while her partner glared with stern eyes. The male player snorted with disdain and turned away.

"Weak," She heard him mutter as he left the room. A small frown came over the girls soft features. It was not the first time she had heard that same exact word used to describe her, but from him it seemed to sting even more.

 _Weak._

 _So weak…_

 _What a weakling, just sitting there while people are dying._

 _It's okay to be scared._ Slowly a smile crept onto her face at the memory of three players. They had been far more supportive than most players, thanks to them her "shop" had actually come to be successful, she almost always sold at least five items, not counting the amount of food that she sold.

Of course a lot of it was thanks to her partner who did all of the hunting, even simple monsters like the bison out on the plains frightened her. Her hand slowly fell to the hilt of the mace that hung on her belt.

A farce, she told herself. The weapon had never touched monster hide, it was more for looks than anything. The player sighed and lay back down, turning her thoughts from her own inadequacy to her next business venture.

Now that was where she excelled, numbers, prices, deals. She blamed it on all of the times she had played "store" as a child, regardless of the truth behind that she found that she did have a talent for selling and buying for a profit. Her consumer base was sizable and the regulars always left happy and she found that to be important.

However…the girl turned to glare at the heavy boxes that dotted the floor. Moving her items was a pain; at first she had been excited at the discovery of the Moving Boxes that let her have a much larger inventory. This of course meant she could sell all the more items but without a permanent place to set up shop or really any place, she and her partner had to lug the heavy boxes back to the inn at the end of the day.

Of course her partner would complain the entire way and the rest of the night and into the morning. The girl sighed again and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, she was putting herself into one of her moods. The kind that left her downcast for days at a time but she knew just the remedy.

With a flick of her hand the girl materialized her menu and wasted no time donning her heavy fur lined cloak. Urbus was a gorgeous city but being on the top of a mountain in December (or the month of Holly) made for cold nights.

She took a minute to admire her gorgeous apparel and smiled, it was a sign of luxury and wealth in any world. But to her it was a sign that her shop was prospering, she could afford room and board, eating at the more expensive restaurants and equipment like this. She could even afford to keep her partner equipped with the best currently available.

The player strode out of her room and down the stairs, already feeling considerably better. As she passed the bar she waved to her companion who shot her a questioning look.

"I'm going for a walk," She said quietly, eyes slipping to the floor. The male player simply snorted and turned away, ordering another drink from the bartender NPC.

"Just don't get into trouble Siraya, because I ain't baling you out." The girl bit her lip and slipped out of the inn, eyes firmly locked on the ground. However as she moved through the stone streets her head slowly lifted in tandem with her mood.

Each streetlamp she passed shined light into her darkness, each quiet breeze made her heart flutter a little stronger. There was just enough light that players could see and appreciate the rough but rustic features of the buildings that lined the streets of the crater-city, while still enjoying the quiet solitude of the night.

Another breeze blew through the city causing Siraya to shudder and pull her cloak in tighter about her. She passed some similarly attired players who waved cheerily to her, she smiled and waved back, recognizing customers she had helped only a day prior.

As she traversed the streets she watched as some players disappeared into buildings, while one remained seated on the side of the main street. Curious, she approached the player, a young man with sad features. He sat upon a thick colorful carpet, to the side of him was an anvil, scattered about the carpet was a small array of weapons and behind him sat a sign that read Nezha's Smith Shop.

 _I would like one of those signs._

The girl approached the young man and politely waited for him to notice her. Finally the man looked up and gave a slight gasp.

"M-my apologies ma'am!" Siraya smiled at the man and waved away his concern.

"I'm sorry for bothering you; I was just out for a stroll and noticed your sign. I was wondering where you got it." The man glanced at Siraya and then at the sign behind him.

"Well that comes included when you purchase a Vendor's Carpet." Siraya stared at the man deadpan and tilted her head to the side.

"Vendors…carpet?"

"Didn't I see you selling items in the square?" The player, Nezha if the sign was to be believed, examined the young girl curiously. "How are you selling items without a Vendor's Carpet?"

"I have a camping tarp," The younger player smiled and presented the mentioned item. Nezha laughed nervously while inconspicuously backing away.

"How do you keep people from stealing your items?" The male player asked as he began making preparations to leave.

"The honor system," Siraya smiled innocently to which the apparent blacksmith arched an eyebrow. He chose not to respond and instead brought his carpets menu to life, with a few clicks of the opaque screen the carpet rolled itself up, items and all and then sat lifeless on the ground. "Where did the weapons go!?"

"They are still there," The smith responded. "The Vendors Carpet has its own inventory space for all of the items for sale, and it weighs almost nothing so it won't burden you while in your inventory. When it is unfolded players can't move the items on the mat, only the owner can."

He turned to find the girls eyes sparkling in awe and her mouth forming a little "o".

 ****"Where can I get one of those?" She demanded, leaning closer to the male player.

"At the general store," He replied leaning away. "I can show you the way if you want." Siraya nodded violently and with a shrug Nezha turned and made his way down the stone street with the girl in tow.

"So why are you a merchant?" Siraya asked as she enjoyed the sights of the well-lit city. Her companion sighed quietly; he just wanted to go meet his friends at the bar.

"It's more lucrative than hunting monsters, I think so anyway." He glanced at the girl suspiciously. "What about you?" Siraya's eyes dropped to the ground automatically, she almost told him that it was because she was weak. That she was too scared to hunt monsters and make a living off of the drops.

Almost.

Instead the young girl smiled and glanced at the twinkling stars above the two.

"For them," She smiled at Nezha's unspoken question. "A small group of players defended me once, when other players were giving me a hard time about trying to sell my items. They encouraged me and they were my first customers. So I guess I do it to try and support them and to make them proud." Her eyes dropped to the ground again as she felt her face grow flushed. "It's kind of stupid."

"Nah," Her companion said unexpectedly. She glanced up at the player's face suspiciously. "That's a much better reason than mine." He shrugged as they came to a stop at the front of an extravagant looking store. Siraya thanked the player who bid her goodnight and left.

Thankfully NPC shops ran business twenty four hours a day as many players preferred to hunt at night. So Siraya pushed through the heavy wooden door and approached the NPC. Later the young girl entered the inn with a brand new Vendor's Carpet sitting in her inventory, she was excited to tell her partner that they would not be forced to drag the boxes around anymore and with any luck that might put him in a better mood.

A quick glance at the bar revealed that he was not there and if he had went hunting he probably would have sent her a message to let her know. Siraya climbed the stairs two at a time, still ecstatic from her purchase that now made her a true merchant.

She carefully opened the door to find her companion already laying in his own bed, so she quietly walked to her own bed and slipped under the covers before exchanging her equipment for her sleep-ware.

"Where were you," Her partner asked gruffly, Siraya almost squeaked in surprise. She had expected him to be asleep by now.

"I went for a walk and I found something that will make selling and transporting items a lot easier." Her partner grunted in reply and she heard him shifting in his own bed. She was relieved when they had found that this inn rented rooms with two beds, many times they had been forced to share a bed and her partner would…Siraya suppressed a shudder and brought her knees to her chest, holding them tight against her.

As a cold quiet lay about the room the girl found her thoughts drifting to the same thing they often did; the player they had lost on the first floor, her eldest brother.

"I miss Baelak," She muttered, which elicited another grunt from across the room.

"Go to sleep."

"Sorry brother…"


	10. Meditation

**A/N: Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Meditation_**

 ** _December 29_** ** _th_** ** _, 2022 8:15 pm_**

The sixth floor was modeled after what the players could only assume was Chinese countryside, there were large fields of rice paddies, wide rivers the meandered lazily around hills and reflected the setting suns orange glow. Then there were the trees, Bonsai trees, only much, much larger. It was under one such tree that the players discovered a man sitting in a meditative position.

They had come across him by complete accident as the party wandered the floor, searching for quests. Quests were very important to a player's survival; it was where players got the most experience, Col and items. Unfortunately the sixth floor seemed almost devoid of them, there were barely any repeatable quests, which was the most abundant type of quest.

So they were forced to explore and hopefully find some NPC that needed help somewhere and that was when the group had discovered the man.

"Um, hello?" Sky said quietly. The man did not respond, simply sat, meditating. "Hello? Excuse me?" She tried for several more minutes to get the NPC to speak, but he never did and Sky reluctantly abandoned the task, thinking that perhaps he didn't have any script.

Nearby sat a small field of rice paddies with several NPCs working them and the players hoped one of them had a quest. As they approached the group saw that none of them possessed a quest indicator.

"Jeez!" Cronan blew out a sigh of frustration. "There's like nothing to do here."

"We could always go to the labyrinth." Sky suggested and Vlinn immediately shut her down with a glare. If he could help it they would not be going anywhere near those death traps. Sky sighed and glanced around the rice paddies one more time hoping to see an indicator that they may have missed. In the closest paddy stood a young man, staring at the tree that the man was sitting under, the swordswoman waved her hand to catch her party's attention and then jerked her head at the man. Slowly, the group approached the NPC.

"Excuse me?" Vlinn said quietly and the NPC turned to him unhurriedly.

"Can I help you with something?" He asked as Sky and Cronan watched curiously.

"What can you tell me about that man?" The player gestured toward the Bonsai tree that the man was sitting under. As soon as the words left his mouth a golden exclamation point appeared over the young man's head.

"That is my father; five years ago he took a vow that he would meditate until this day." The NPC stared seriously at Vlinn. "In fact, he should be coming out right now, unfortunately I cannot leave these farmers by themselves, perhaps you could go and retrieve him for me?"

"Yes!" Cronan and Sky shouted simultaneously, even though it was a single player quest, it was still the only action the players had seen in a few days. Vlinn smiled and accepted the quest and then led the way back up the hill. As the group approached the man under the tree he stretched and stood up.

"Hello," Vlinn said to the man, smiling. "Your son sent us to bring you to him."

"Ah, did he now? Too busy to come himself I suppose." The lanky man rolled his neck in a circle.

"Ask him why he was meditating for five years." Sky whispered to the slightly taller player quietly, Vlinn relayed the question to the man and he smiled in response.

"Mastering meditation has more benefits than you can imagine son, even in combat."

"In combat?"

"Aye, I could show you if you wanted, only thing is, you have to prove yourself to me."

"How?" The player licked his lips and rubbed his hands together excitedly, maybe this would be another awesome skill like Cronan's Martial Arts, which were pretty devastating. Sky and Vlinn had been witness to Cronan impaling a monster with his hand, it sent a shiver down Vlinn's spine just thinking about it.

"You have to show me you have the patience, son. I want you to meditate for twelve hours; I'll come and get you when it is time." And with that the man turned and walked toward the rice paddies, where his son awaited him.

"What the hell are _we_ supposed to do?" Cronan complained.

"We waited for you," Sky pointed out, raising an eyebrow pointedly. The tall warrior raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"You guys can go back to the main city if you want; it's not that far from here." Vlinn said, sitting down under the tree. "There aren't any monsters around so I should be safe, no reason for you guys to be bored." Eventually his friends would agree and after they left he assumed the meditating pose and closed his eyes.

It didn't take them long to get back to the main city, Hong Zhin. It also didn't take them long to realize that they had absolutely nothing to do, they found their way to a small restaurant that sold ramen in large bowls and ate an early dinner. Afterwards they strolled quietly around the city, not many players were there as they had already moved on to the seventh floor which had been opened that day.

"Well this has been a rather boring day." Cronan grumbled as they stalked along a back alley, Sky simply grunted in agreement. She stopped as something caught her eye, a small glint that appeared on the roof top nearer them. She glanced back at Cronan before quietly stealing away, up the walls and on to the roof. "I don't know about you but I think I'm going to go to bed- I guess you're not." The warrior said as he realized that the swords-woman was gone. "Well fine then," he grumbled.

Sky bounced from roof top to roof top, thankfully the city had been built in a very cramped setting. In front of her a young player raced over the buildings, Sky grit her teeth together and pushed forward.

"Go away!" The player shouted at her.

"Slow down!" She countered. The player, a young man dressed in tight black leather armor, lowered his head and attempted to jump a large gap between buildings. Unfortunately for the young man he only made it about halfway before he started to fall into empty space. Sky leaped off of the building, somersaulted in midair and snatched the player's hand. She grabbed the edge of the adjacent building by the tips of her fingers.

"Hang on!" She growled attempting to lift them onto the roof; she struggled for a few seconds but they didn't move. Her strength stat was too low to pull both of them up. "How's your acrobatics skill?"

"Apparently not as high as yours." The player, Shoran as his name read, grumbled. Sky rolled her eyes and gripped his hand tighter as she started swinging him towards the wall.

"Once your feet touch the wall back flip onto the building behind us." Shoran nodded grimly and let her swing him, once his feet hit the wall he let go of Sky's hand and propelled himself backwards flipping elegantly and landing safely on the building they had occupied previously.

With the dead weight gone, Sky was free to pull herself on top of the building and then leap back to land next to the young man.

"I guess I owe you." Shoran grumbled, scratching his head.

"You can repay me with an explanation." Sky said seriously. "Why are you running on roof tops at night? Do you think you're Batman or something?"

"I'm just doing what I was paid to do."

"Which is?" Sky crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot impatiently. Shoran looked away and scratched his head, before turning back toward her, a sly smile painted across his face.

"Hey, you're actually pretty cute." Sky felt her face tinge red. "You know there aren't that many girls around." The player took a step toward her and she felt her face flare an even deeper shade of red. He took another step and found himself at the end of Gobelpierce.

"I think that's close enough." Sky growled, trying to keep her face from flushing even more. "Now what exactly were you doing out here?" Shoran scoffed at her rapier.

"Come on honey, we both know you can't hurt me in a city." The player cockily raised an eyebrow."

"You owe me…" After a moment Shoran blew out a pent up sigh.

"Yeah I guess I do. I'm a thief." The black clad player shrugged.

"Your color cursor is green though." Sky said, referring to the green diamond that floated above player's heads, next to their names and health bars. The cursor would only turn orange if a player caused an infraction in the game, such as stealing, hurting or even killing another player.

"I didn't actually steal anything, I was just doing a little eaves dropping."

"On whom and for whom?" Sky raised Gobelpierce again, just to accent her point.

"Getting a little specific are we?" He said with a smile. "The leader of the Aincrad Liberation Squad guild asked me to spy on another guild. MMO Today. I don't know what he's planning so don't ask me."

"Kibaou, that bastard." Sky muttered, pondering over what that man could have wanted. Finally she turned to the man. "You shouldn't get mixed up with players like that, especially him."

"You're worried about me," The man said with a grin. "How nice, but you don't have anything to worry about honey, I'll be fine." Sky rolled her eyes and sheathed her rapier with a flourish.

"All I'm saying is, every action like that hurts somebody and if we want to clear this game we have to help each other, not hurt each other." The young man's cocky look melted away for a moment.

"Maybe…" In an instant his haughtiness returned. "So, can I take you for dinner?"

"No." She answered quickly, then after a slight pause "But a walk around the square would be nice."

"How about a run on the roof tops?"

"You're on!" Sky smiled.

Cronan wandered the dark streets quietly with not much else to do. Vlinn was "meditating", Sky had up and disappeared and this city was dull! There wasn't even a game of some kind; most floors had at least a small casino type building, not Hong Zhin. The warrior-blacksmith kicked at the ground and grumbled loudly too himself. He blew a pent up breathe and thought to himself, _at least they didn't leave me outside alone anyway…although we did leave Vlinn by himself…I'm sure he'll be fine._

As he continued to stalk down some of the back streets a loud banging drifted through the air, curious, the warrior followed the sounds around several turns. As he rounded another corner sparks danced into his vision, he yelped and jumped back. Before him was a slim brown haired girl slamming a hammer onto a sword, Cronan glanced around and realized that he had found his way back to the city's main street.

"Can I help you?" Cronan turned to find the female blacksmith staring at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, sorry!" The warrior brought his hands up as if to ward away a verbal attack. "I just heard the sound so I came to investigate. Why are you working so late?"

"I have some orders that couldn't be filled without people getting impatient." The girl continued to watch Cronan carefully. "So people just left some of their weapons here for me to enhance and repair. There are quite a few to do." She smashed her hammer down onto the weapon again.

"People trusted you enough to leave their weapons?" Cronan whistled appreciatively, examining the girls stall. It was just a large blanket with several anvils laying on it.

"Well, I have a bit of a reputation."

"Oh? What's your name, maybe I've heard of you." The woman eyed Cronan with disinterest.

"It's Lisbeth." Her face blushed red as Cronan burst out laughing. "What? What's wrong with my name!?" She demanded angrily, wielding her hammer in a threatening gesture.

"Nothing! Nothing is wrong with it!" Cronan held up a hand to ward her away, still laughing. "It's just…I had a friend with that name and we used to joke about how it was the only one in the world. Evidently we were wrong." He held up his hands in a peaceful gesture and smiled. Lisbeth snorted and smashed her hammer onto the sword, probably with a little more force than was necessary. "How long have you been doing this?"

"About three hours," She grunted as she smashed the sword again.

"Three hours?!" Cronan sighed and glanced at one of the anvils. Grumbling he opened his menu and materialized his blacksmith hammer and sat himself in front of the anvil. "Give me one of the weapons that need to get repaired." He said holding his hand out toward Lisbeth.

"What?"

"I wouldn't want to be out here for three hours, I'll help you. You do the enhancements, I'll do the repairs and hopefully we'll get done relatively soon."

"You're a blacksmith? What's your skill level; I can't just let any random player try to interfere with my business!"

"One hundred and ninety eight." Cronan raised an eyebrow expectantly. Lisbeth stared at him for a moment before relenting.

"Alright, you'll do. The weapons that need to be repaired are in the chest behind you, it's unlocked."

"Whoa, you have a chest?" Until the sun was just beginning to peak onto the sixth floor the pair worked over a large amount of weapons. Every time he came across a weapon or material he wasn't familiar with Cronan would interrupt their conversation to confer with Liz (as she asked him to call her). By the end of the weapons he was more confident than he had ever been in his blacksmithing skill, which had gone up a level during the job.

"Thank you," Liz said, stretching. "What do I owe you?"

"Nothing," Cronan said, smiling. "You taught me quite a bit that I didn't know about blacksmithing, so we'll call it even." The woman chuckled and started manipulating her menu. "Well it was nice meeting you; perhaps we'll see each other again." Cronan waved and then turned to leave.

"Perhaps we will." The blacksmith smiled as a friend request popped up in front of Cronan. He glanced back, confused and she supplied him with a friendly wink before stalking down the street. The warrior chuckled and hit the accept button and as the window disappeared he saw a player just turning the corner and going out of view, but he had enough time to see the man's face.

Even with new armor Cronan couldn't forget that face, Kibaou.


	11. Reunion

**A/N: Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Reunion_**

 ** _December 31_** ** _st_** ** _, 2022 6:01am_**

 ****The army leader ducked into one of the many noodle shops that filled the city. This particular shop was one of the seedier looking ones but was filled with customers. Cronan followed the other swordsman inside, upon seeing where he was seated the warrior sat himself at the table behind Kibaou, with his back to him. As he sat Cronan closed his eyes and strained his ears, listening in on the conversation between Kibaou and a rather rotund hammer wielding player. His friends had joked about how useless the Listening skill was, but it certainly came in handy now.

"-should be here soon sir."

"Good," Kibaou growled. "Let's hope this little spy of yours has any information that's actually relevant to us."

"I'm sure he will have something sir." A slight pause. "If I may sir, why are you so intent on this guild? Shouldn't we be using our resources to clear the eighth floor?"

"We need to protect this guild, first and foremost." Kibaou growled.

"How is this other guild a threat, sir?"

"Are you questioning me?" Kibaou must have looked rather intimidating because his accomplice fell silent. Soon the sound of footsteps approached the table, two sets.

"I take it you are Kibaou?" A young man's voice.

"I take it you have the information I wanted…Who's your friend?"

"I shouldn't be surprised that you wouldn't remember me." Wait…Sky?

"Damn it woman!" Cronan shouted, standing up and turning around. "The hell are you doing here?"

"Confronting Kibaou…what are you doing here?"

"I was spying until you came along! You don't just confront someone, there's a process!"

"Ah yes," Kibaou said, mildly amused. "I do remember you now girl, especially with him standing next to you. I tried to message your friend a few floors back. Imagine my surprise when it was blocked."

"Like we would want to take any jobs from you." Sky snarled while Cronan glared at the army leader.

"I'm slightly hurt." Kibaou said, glaring back. "I would ask how your friend is doing, but I am quite aware of how he is."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Cronan demanded.

"Well, when I was on my way here, we were quite surprised to find our mutual friend just sitting under a tree. Of course I didn't want any harm to come to him so I left some friends to take care of him until he wakes up." Sky's eyes widened and Cronan ground his teeth together. Kibaou ignored them and instead turned to the young thief. "Now, what can you tell me?"

"Um," Shoran glanced at Sky who shook her head visibly. Kibaou rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers at the hammer user. The pudgy young man materialized a large sack and dropped it on the table between the thief and Kibaou. The army leader opened the bag to show all of the Col that was in it.

"Now please, sit. Tell me everything." Shoran looked back at Sky but wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Sorry honey." He mumbled as he sat down across from Kibaou. The female swordsman glared at the thief for a moment and then burst through the restaurant door, dashing away into the early, dark morning with Cronan hot on her heels.

Two men in heavy armor stood around Vlinn, he was perfectly aware that they were there, even with his eyes closed. The players had been there since yesterday, not too long after his friends had left. They had yet to bother the quiet player so he continued with his meditation; it was actually kind of nice, he mused, not having to think about anything.

"Man I'm tired!" One of the players yawned loudly.

"Me too, but we're supposed to wait for Kibaou to come back before we do anything." Kibaou? So these guys were with the army, fantastic. Vlinn wanted nothing more than to get up now and sprint as far away as he could but he was determined to get that skill.

"Let's just lure a monster over here or something to kill the kid." _What?_

"No, our orders are clear!" _Yeah kid, listen to orders!_ "But you know accidents do happen…" _No, no follow your orders damn it!_

"They do! We had to think about our safety first right?" _What about my safety?!_

"Right! Let's go find something." _Well, shit._

The player heard their footsteps fade as the two soldiers left him alone, for now anyway. He considered just canceling the quest and high tailing it away from the tree but then he felt the sun begin to warm his face. It was almost time for the master to return, he was so close. Vlinn grit my teeth together and kept his eyes clamped close, he could do this.

And then he heard the growling, and two footsteps dashing past him, creating a slight breeze. The player heard the very distinctive shuffling of clawed paws; it had to be a Rage Panda that was the only creature around anyway. He bit his lip as it slowly lumbered closer to the defenseless player.

A loud cry rang through the air quickly followed by the sounds of sword skills being released and then the battle howl of a particular warrior. Sky and Cronan had managed to arrive in the nick of time, thankfully. As they continued to battle the higher leveled enemy Vlinn felt a hand rest on my shoulder.

"Well done disciple." The voice of the master NPC. "You have earned this skill, go now and meditate on all that the world is." He heard the quest menu pop up, without opening his eyes Vlinn closed it and stood up; drawing the curving hunting dagger he had purchased a few floors back.

His eyes snapped open and immediately the sword skill system targeted the nearest monster. He had been right; it was one of the pandas that lived in the caves under the larger bonsai trees. At the moment Sky was somersaulting over the beast, stabbing Gobelpierce deep into its side. A blue glow fell onto the dagger and he assumed a sprinting position.

"Switch!" He roared and released the skill. Cronan froze in place as he heard his comrade's voice and Sky dropped into a roll as soon as her feet touched the ground. Vlinn crossed the distance between him and the panda in a second, moving as if he were simply a step away. The dagger found its throat and the bear exploded into data fragments from the collective damage.

"About damn time you woke up!" Cronan yelled, jogging towards the now stretching player.

"We have bigger problems." Sky said, sheathing her rapier. "Kibaou-"

"Is in Hong Zhin, yeah I'm aware." Vlinn said gruffly, materializing a water bottle to soothe his parched throat.

"He said he attempted to message you." Cronan said, examining the menu.

"Well, if he wants our attention so badly he has it."

 ****It wasn't hard for the party to find Kibaou considering he was waiting for them. He stood surrounded by players in his guild in the center of the town square.

"Finally wake up did you?" He called, "how was your nap?" Vlinn didn't respond, simply approached him, Sky and Cronan flanking him on either side.

"Your soldiers almost killed me!" The mid-sized player growled, resting his hand on the hilt of the hunting dagger.

"I can assure you I did not order that." Kibaou said grimly, he didn't appear to be lying.

"Regardless our friend almost died." Cronan said, crossing his arms.

"Yes well, I wouldn't have to post guards if you didn't block my messages." The army leader sneered.

"We wouldn't have to block your messages if you weren't such a-"

"Sky!" Vlinn cut her off quickly, he wasn't sure what she had been about to say, but the player was not sure he wanted her to say it. "You have my attention now Kibaou, what do you want from us?"

"I was willing to pay you for plenty of jobs; I have things that I'm sure only you three can do." The man turned to stare at the statue in the middle of the town square. "We need to cooperate if we want to ever go home."

"I want to stay alive." Vlinn growled in response. "And I want to make sure my friends do as well, your 'jobs' are dangerous."

"Do you think I don't know that? Everyone has to take risks or we will never get anywhere!" Heathcliff's words rang through the warrior's head, _sometimes protecting others means letting go of your own fears, putting your life on the line._ He blinked in surprise as window popped up in front of me; it was a duel request from Kibaou.

Duels were system sanctioned battles between players, there were three modes for dueling; Total loss, where the winner was determined when one player was dead, this option was obviously not used. Then there was First Strike mode where the winner was determined by who got the first clean hit in, the final mode was Half Loss mode in which the winner was the player who forced his opponent's health into the red.

The window stated that he wished to duel in the Half Loss mode.

"This is obviously the only way this can happen." Kibaou growled, staring at his opponent. "If I win you work for me, if you win I will never speak to you again."

"Vlinn you can't," Sky said staring at the screen. "What if he gets a critical hit?" This was the downfall to half loss mode, if your opponent managed to score a critical hit it could possibly kill the player. Vlinn hit the accept button and immediately a large countdown appeared above the two combatants, beginning at sixty.

"If I lose we aren't joining your guild, but I'll work for you, I can't speak for them." The player cracked his neck on both sides.

"We've got your back," Cronan said, giving his friend a thumbs up and Sky nodded grimly.

"Sounds fine to me," Kibaou drew his large one-handed sword. Vlinn opened up my skill menu and made room for the new Meditation skill and as the counter descended he seated himself on the ground and posed in the meditation style. The player felt the effects begin, meditation increased health regeneration and could decrease the time it took for negative status effects to wear off, at higher levels it would increase stats as well, unfortunately he did not have that benefit, Vlinn would just have to hope the health regeneration was like the battle healing ability, where he would heal whenever damage was taken.

The timer rang and he heard Kibaou's footsteps dash toward him, the player's eyes snapped open and he leapt to his feet, drawing his dagger and dodging to the side. His blade missed Vlinn by centimeters; he dashed in at him scoring a shallow cut across his cheek.

He swung at the player but Vlinn was already gone racing around the edge of the circle that had formed around the combatants. The dagger glowed blue and the sword skill had him racing toward Kibaou again, as the dagger closed in on him he snapped his sword up pushing the smaller weapon to the side. Vlinn attempted to leap over him but the player's Acrobatics skill was nowhere near as high as Sky's, he only cleared his opponent by a few inches and as Vlinn landed his enemy's sword was there, ripping a gash in Vlinn from shoulder to chest.

The player growled as he backed away, it was a pretty clean hit and his armor was not the strongest. The warrior glanced at his health; it was dangerously close to the red. In the surrounding ring Cronan grabbed Sky's hand as she reached for a throwing knife that was belted at her waist.

"Don't interfere with a man's fight," The warrior said, eyeing the battle. Sky pouted but kept her hands away from her weapons.

In the center of the ring their comrade used charging skill after charging skill, getting close to Kibaou before backing away quickly. Vlinn watched with grim amusement as his opponent slowly gave in to his aggravation with the guerrilla tactics, soon enough he swung too early leaving him open for the warrior to bring his dagger across Kibaou's chest, but his heavy armor simply caused the dagger to bounce off, barely inflicting any damage.

"Shit!" Vlinn growled and backed away. As the players continued to fight more and more people joined the crowd, it was not often that players dueled and with the floor being as boring as it was this was probably the most entertainment they had witnessed in a while. Vlinn tried his best to ignore them, focusing on the opponent, he was full of openings but if he went for them it would put Vlinn at his advantage.

The warrior ground his teeth together and dashed in again, aiming for his throat, he saw the blue glow of his enemy's sword too late. His blade pierced through Vlinn's shoulder, knocking the player to the ground. Vlinn growled in pain, even though all he felt was an uncomfortable tingling and he watched as his health stopped inches away from the zero percent mark.

A huge screen popped into existence between Kibaou and the prone warrior, declaring him the winner. The spiky haired warrior sheathed his weapon and brought up his menu, a moment later his friend request appeared in front of the defeated player. Vlinn accepted it, letting his arm fall back down, defeated. When the confirmation returned to him Kibaou dismissed the message and turned his back on his fallen enemy.

"See you on the front lines." He said over his shoulder before stalking off, his guild mates fell in line behind him. Slowly the crowd began to disperse and Vlinn's friends approached quietly.

"Damn it!" He growled, sitting up and pounding a fist on the ground. The player felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

"It's okay," Sky said quietly.

"It's not!"

"It is." Cronan said with a note of finality. Vlinn growled and smashed the ground again, a small red notice popped up, hovering over the ground, informing him that the ground was an indestructible object.

"I'm sorry," He muttered finally. "I shouldn't have made that bet when it involved you."

"We would have gone with you even if it only concerned you." Sky assured him.

"I can't believe I lost." He said miserably.

"I can," Said a deep voice behind the party. Heathcliff approached them, smiling warmly. "I'm glad to see that you stopped using a spear, that dagger suits you better." Vlinn grunted in reply. "But you still aren't truly fighting. I saw that you noticed all of his openings, but you didn't take any of them, because they looked too dangerous, no?" The warrior simply nodded. "One day you will finally fight for real." Heathcliff chuckled.

"What are you doing here?" Sky asked, bouncing over to him.

"Taking a break," He smiled. "I heard the commotion and came over to see what it was, imagine my surprise. So what was the duel over?"

"Us working for him," Cronan supplied. "It looks like we're his favorite mercenaries for hire."

"Take it as a compliment." Heathcliff advised with a shrug. Vlinn growled again and stared at Kibaou's name on his friends list, it would not be long before the party heard from him again.


	12. Hunting

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties. This one is a little long, sorry.**

 ** _Hunting_**

 ** _May 7_** ** _th_** ** _, 2023 2:14 pm_**

For the next few months the group spent their lives on the highest floor available, Kibaou used them frequently and liberally. He called on the party for everything from labyrinth mapping, to quest scouting and he even had them join a boss raid, which was the most frightening experience of Vlinn's life, they fought the two headed giant on the twenty fifth floor and almost lost Cronan. But for several weeks the message box went quiet and for a time they could enjoy themselves again.

Panareze was on the twenty fourth floor and it was where the trio had decided to make their temporary base for the time being. The floor was covered mostly in water with several islands dotting the seemingly endless blue. Panareze was a manmade island, a floating city in the middle of the floor. There were several smaller islands surrounding it, all connected by floating bridges, in the mornings the sun would glint off of the small ocean's surface and at night, the moon would reflect silver onto the buildings. From their rented room at the modest inn the players could see some of the islands where the repeatable quests were, which was not all that useful but still nice in a way.

One day the party was strolling over one of the bridges admiring Cronan's new two-handed sword that he had made the night before, his first forging, when a message popped up in front of Vlinn. He groaned and opened it and as he suspected it was from Kibaou.

"More work?" Sky asked grimly, seeing her friend's clenched jaw.

"Yeah, he says it's important for us to see this."

"That can't be good at all." Cronan mumbled, sheathing his sword that the system had named Codpiece, he had forged it from materials he had received from killing the field boss of the twenty fourth floor, a giant swordfish. The blade was long and tapered to a narrow point like a large rapier. The blade signified the nose of the fish, the cross piece of his sword was the skull of the fish itself, just slightly smaller. Finally the hilt appeared as if it were made from a fish's spine.

"He wants us to meet him on the eighth floor at the teleport gate in two hours." Vlinn closed the message window with a wave of his red gauntleted hand. The warrior's newest set of armor, purchased from Cronan's friend Liz, was still light metal, but it covered his whole body. The deep red of it suited his taste and since it was still light it did not slow him down, while still providing good coverage.

"All the way down there?" Sky tugged at the sleeves of her light armor, up which were hidden her throwing knives. Her light metal armor only consisted of four actual metal parts, an arm guard on each arm and small greaves on both legs. The rest of her attire was somewhat tight, dark clothing. Her sleeves flared open at the ends where she could reach inside and pull out her knives without the clothing impeding her movement. "I wonder what's up."

"New quest they just discovered probably." Cronan suggested. "He probably wants us to go through it first so they can farm it." The warrior shrugged almost stabbing himself in the neck from the spikes on his Gem Shell Armor which had managed to keep using by reinforcing and enhancing it.

"If we start walking to the teleportation gate now we can get there early."

The eighth floor was mostly large meadows with a small forest in the center of the floor. Before the forest was a small village in which players could find an NPC who would give them a quest that was reminiscent of the fairy tale; Red Riding Hood. When party arrived at the teleport gate in Friben village Kibaou was there to greet them.

"Good, you're early. Follow me." He turned on his heel and marched down one of the small side roads without checking to see if his mercenaries were following. Their grumpy patron had become increasingly agitated after a botched raid on the twenty fifth floor had cost him half of his guild. After their loss Aincrad Liberation Squad had retreated to the first floor. For weeks the rest of the players had not heard anything from them, until they merged with the guild MMO Today. After the merge Kibaou had been removed as leader and the leader of MMO Today, Thinker, was voted into the position in the new guild, Aincrad Liberation Force or the Army.

Kibaou had retained some power as a sub-leader; he dealt with most of the crime and front line work, which was why he continued to use the small group of players that currently followed him. And they must have produced decent results because Thinker continued to authorize their use.

The small village did not have many roads in it, so it only took a few minutes to get to their destination. Kibaou stopped in front of a small player owned shop, the sign read; Siraya's Sundries, Vlinn felt his blood freeze.

Several players from the army milled about examining the shop and one of Kibaou's lieutenants was speaking with a distressed looking young player.

"What is this about Kibaou!?" Vlinn demanded, glaring at him. Kibaou's eyes did not hold their normal arrogant shine; instead there was pity there.

"We received news of this event just this morning." As he spoke Sky and Cronan stepped into the shop. "The owner of this store was player-killed." Vlinn's eyes widened and he felt ice in my veins, Sky squeaked and her hand shot to her mouth. Cronan leaned against the counter of the store, staring absently at the floor boards.

"No." It couldn't be true.

"I sent some of my men to the first floor, to the Monument of Life. Siraya's name was crossed out, it happened last night." A choking sound came from the shop, a sob and Vlinn could not tell who it was from. It might have been him for all he knew. "The description of her death was player killed." Player killed? She was murdered? Why would someone do that to her, to that sweet innocent little girl?

"Why?" Sky breathed.

"That," Kibaou said seriously. "Is what I want you to find out. You're to track down the responsible player and bring him in to us. _Alive_." The man glared at each player, trying to accent his point, don't kill the murder, bring him in so he could be locked up, fed, cared for until someone cleared the game.

"You can't be sure she's dead!" Cronan snapped and clenched his fists.

"The monument of life doesn't lie, you know that." The Monument of Life was a large structure on the first floor that had every single player's name carved into it. When a player died their name would be crossed out and their cause, time and date of death would be marked next to their name. "Now, you're getting paid to investigate, so start investigating!"

"Fine, but I want your men out." Vlinn said stalking past him, toward Siraya's helper.

"Now wait just a-" The guild leader spun around only to find himself at the wrong end of Codpiece.

"I believe our conditions were stated." Cronan said quietly, behind him several of Sky's knives glowed blue. Even though he knew the party could not hurt him, the sight was still intimidating, Kibaou growled out his orders and within minutes the army had cleared out of the immediate area.

"Who are you exactly?" Sky asked, turning to the boy as she sheathed her throwing knives. The young player did not appear to be much of a fighter, he had a simple one-handed straight sword on his hip and some low level leather armor. The name next to his health bar read Durante.

"I used to help out with acquiring items and materials on the lower levels and I would occasionally run the store." He spoke as if he had recited that line hundreds of times and knowing the army he probably had.

"Why would anyone want to do this to her?" Sky demanded, putting more emotion into her voice than I would have liked.

"I…I wish I could say I didn't know…" The boy looked away from us. "I think it was her partner, Hoki. They had been fighting a lot lately."

"Do you know why?" Cronan asked, resting a hand on Sky's shoulder. The boy shook his head sadly.

"I only ever heard snippets of their arguments, I would guess that he wanted a larger cut of the profits from the shop or the ability to just keep some of the items. But that's just speculation." The boy rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from us awkwardly.

"Do you have him on your friends list?" Cronan asked. The boy shook his head frowning.

"He wouldn't share it with me."

"We need more." Vlinn said, examining Siraya's little store. It was small, but warm and welcoming, much like her. "Do you know places he went item hunting a lot? Or maybe players he saw? Anything!" The boy looked away from the players, deep in thought.

"The last time he went item hunting for Siraya, he went to the wolf plains. And whenever he needs information for specific items he sees a broker in Taft."

"Is that all?" Sky asked seriously, gazing into the players eyes.

"I think…the last time he was gone for a couple days, Siraya said he went back to 'that cave' where their friend died on the first floor." The group shared knowing looks, there was only one cave on the first floor that they were aware of.

"Do you know the info broker's name?" The boy shook his head.

"But I do know that he's the only one in Taft."

"Thank you for all your help, try to keep this shop going."

"Yeah…" Vlinn saw his eyes move to the healthbar above him.

"Vlinn? Siraya…" The young man tilted his head to the side quizzically. "She had something for you… I'll try to find it! Please, do your best!" The boy bowed his head as he frowned, her death must have hit a little too close to him. The party thanked him again and left Siraya's little store, heading into the square of the village.

"That's a lot of distance to close."

"We should split up." Cronan said, leaning back against a bench. Vlinn grunted in response, he did not really like the idea of the three of them being so far apart. Being away from each other on the same floor was bad enough, but being so many floors apart from each other was entirely different.

"I don't know." The warrior muttered, clicking hid upper and lower canines together. "Whoever is on the twenty eighth floor is in the most danger."

"We can all handle that." Sky said dully, playing with one of her knives. "We aren't as strong as the front-liners but we are strong in our own right. And we aren't stupid." Her mid-sized comrade sighed and leaned back, covering his face with his hands.

"Who wants where then?" He mumbled through my fingers.

"I'll take the twenty eighth!" Cronan and Sky said in unison.

"What? You? Me!" They continued to shout at the same time. "No me!"

"Can you please stop speaking at the same time," Their friend pinched the bridge of his nose. "Maybe I want-"

"No!" The two warriors glared at him, clearly determined.

"Fine, just do rock-paper-scissors or something." He snapped waving his hand dismissively. After several rounds Sky emerged the victor and from there they decided that Cronan would visit their first home on the first floor and Vlinn would hunt down the information broker.

"If you find him don't do anything, just alert the other two and wait. We meet back at our hotel tomorrow night. Happy hunting." Sky said, stalking toward the teleportation gate.

 ** _May 7_** ** _th_** ** _, 2023 6:45 pm_**

The first floor had not changed at all, which was not really surprising he supposed. Cronan trudged drearily along the road that would bring him to Torubana town, the sun was beginning to set and he wanted to rent an inn before it got dark, then maybe he could ask around town for some information on Hoki. As he continued down the dirt road he came upon the wolf guardian of that particular area.

The beast growled and loped toward him, with a savage grin Cronan drew his fist back and let a yellow glow fall upon it. The wolf leaped at the warrior and his fist darted out to meet him, Cronan's attack hit the wolf on its neck and there was a loud distinctive SNAP, before the monster broke apart into red shards.

"That never gets old." The warrior blacksmith said savagely. The inns in Torubana were very cheap compared to the place they were staying at in Panareze. After renting the room he took a nice stroll around town, occasionally stopping players to ask if they had seen a man named Hoki. The few people that had any idea had pointed Cronan in the direction of the forest, providing him with no new, ground breaking information.

As he continued to wander the town, he came into the square and across the little area that Siraya had once used as a stall. The warrior frowned; she had been such a sweet girl.

 _Thank you for fixing my sword Cronan!_

 _Make sure you guys visit my shop someday!_

 _I love you guys,_ she would always say with that bright smile. How could someone take away such an innocent life? Cronan's hands clenched into fists, he swore that guy would pay.

As soon as the sun was up Cronan was on the move, swiftly marching down the path into the forest and beyond. Even though it had been over half a year he still knew the way by heart, take a left at the bend in the stream then a right at the broken tree.

And there it was.

What had been his home for almost a month, what had started to become just a memory, sat in front of him. The cave had not changed in appearance, not that he had really expected it to. After taking a calming breath, the warrior-blacksmith walked into the cave, only to be greeted by a loud, low growling.

"Hello old friend," He said grinning manically, a yellow glow falling on his balled fist. "I've missed you too!" Cronan drew his fist back and smashed it into Grizzleclaw's nose as the bear charged him. The great bear was thrown to the side and its health bar fell just above the zero mark.

"Huh," Cronan said, frowning. "I thought I could one-shot you. Guess not. But you know-" The player drew Codpiece and held it at the ready. "This needed to be broken in anyway and I can't think of a better monster to christen it on." The bear had picked itself up during Cronan's monologue, seeing the blade it roared savagely and charged again. The warrior swung his blade from left to right, leaving a huge red tear in the bear's chest. Grizzleclaw let out one last roar before it burst into pieces.

"Well that was fun," He smirked as he sheathed Codpiece and closed out the loot window. After briefly scanning the cavern, which was empty save for some larger rocks, Cronan moved into the camp area without much thought. As he threw open the door and stepped in he realized his mistake.

Several players were sitting around the fire and as Cronan walked in their hands shot to their weapons. The blacksmith could have slapped himself, he should have assumed that people would use this camp. One by one the players drew their weapons, two one-handed straight swords and a mace, Cronan smiled and held up his hands peaceably.

"Sorry, didn't think anyone would be in here." He flashed an awkward smile and kept his hands well away from his sword. Slowly the other players lowered their weapons.

"What business do you have here?" The mace wielder, a young male with black hair, asked.

"I'm looking for someone." He answered honestly. "A male player named Hoki, do any of you know him?" One by one the players chuckled causing Cronan to tilt his head in confusion.

"Oh we know him," One of the sword users said. "Scared the hell out of us when we first met him." The three of them shared another laugh and Cronan chuckled along.

"How did you meet him?" He asked, trying to smile his brightest smile.

"Well, we were exploring this part of the forest a few months ago." The mace user began, twiddling his thumbs. "We found this cave and we fought and killed Grizzleclaw out there, took us a while too, he's a strong one. Well, when he was dead Hoki popped out from behind some rocks and thanked us. Just popped up out of nowhere, the bear didn't even know he was there."

"Did he tell you why he was in here?" Grizzleclaw couldn't see him?

"He mentioned a friend," the first swordsman said, prompting the mace player to nod.

"Yes, he said his friend had died here and he came here once in a while to honor his memory or some such. He stayed here with us sometimes, nice guy." At this point the man narrowed his eyes at Cronan. "Why are you so interested in him anyway?"

"Um," He stuttered. "I'm recruiting him for a guild!"

"Oh…which guild?"

"The Aincrad Liberation Squad!" He shouted, saying the first guild that came to mind. _Why would you pick that one!?_ Cronan mentally smacked himself but the answer seemed to appease the players. After thanking them for their cooperation he left hurriedly and as he stepped foot outside of the cave an alert popped up to his left, informing that he had a message.

In his messaging window he found that it was addressed to him and Vlinn from Sky, the subject line read: _Sorry!_

 **** ** _May 7_** ** _th_** ** _, 2023 7:20 pm_**

 ****After Sky had arrived on the twenty eighth floor, the highest floor that had been unlocked so far, she wasted no time beginning her search through the city. The Wolf plains main city, Lupine was far larger than most cities she had seen so far, with the exception of the first floor's starting city. The odds of players actually seeing Hoki were slim and the odds that they would even remember seeing him if they had were even worse.

When her search among players proved futile she took to the rooftops, bouncing from building to building. She had hoped that a higher vantage point might help reveal the player but the usernames just became a jumbled mess. As the sun began to sink she decided that it would be better to retire for the night and start fresh in the morning. As she jumped over to another building a silly thought popped into her head.

"I'm Batman!" She squeaked, giggling to herself as she landed.

"Not even close," Replied a smug a voice. Sky flicked a knife into her hand and turned, weapon at the ready. Shoran leaned against the buildings chimney, smirking. His black armor blended in with the soot covered iron and a wicked looking dagger hung at his hip. "Hey honey, miss me?" Without replying Sky sheathed her knife and began walking away. "Oh come on! I was just kidding!"

"What do you want?" She demanded with a sigh, glaring at the spy.

"I was just wondering if you found the player you've been looking for, but by the sounds of it I would guess not."

"How could you possibly know that?" The female swordsman crossed her arms over her chest, staring expectantly at Shoran.

"My business is finding out information people want to keep quiet." He replied with a wink, Sky rolled her eyes and began to walk away again. "You know I could be enticed to help!"

"Why? How?" Sky stopped and turned to look at him suspiciously. "How would you know where the player is?"

"I wouldn't but I know someone who could at least help. More than other players anyway."

"What's the catch or the price rather," She asked skeptically.

"A kiss," Shoran's smirk disappeared when one of Sky's knives embedded itself in the stone next to him. "Okay, okay jeez, it was just a joke. A date would be fine." Sky raised an eyebrow and a blue glow fell on another knife. "Okay! I was just hoping for a second chance." The spy didn't meet her eyes.

"If you can help me find this guy, I might consider forgiving you." Sky snorted causing a genuine smile to appear on Shoran's face.

"In that case follow me!" He took off across the rooftop, prompting Sky to follow.

"So who is this info broker?" Sky asked as they raced over the city.

"How do you know it's an information broker," Shoran smirked, Sky replied with a shrug after she vaulted over a large chimney. "Well you're right, confidentially Argo is on this floor and I have a meeting set up with her."

"Argo!?" The player Argo had once been a beta tester and after their entrapment in the game she became the top information broker in Aincrad. It was also her that wrote the beginners hand book that become an essential tool to all players in the first few months.

"Yeah, she might be able to answer some questions that could help your search." Sky was silent for a moment.

"Thank you." She said quietly, Argo could possibly lead her straight to Hoki.

"Anything for you!" Shoran said, throwing a wink her way. "Why are you looking for this guy anyway? Should I be concerned about competition?" When Sky didn't glare at him the spy stopped grinning.

"He killed an innocent girl."

"What?" Shoran asked but Sky was already lost in her memories.

 _"_ _You're so strong! I wish I could be as strong as you are Sky."_

 _"_ _Discounts for my favorite customers!"_

 _"_ _You guys are the best!"_

"Sky?" Shoran said forcibly for perhaps the fifth time.

"Huh?"

"I said we're here," The spy pointed at a bench in one of the small parks on the outskirts of Lupine, sitting on the bench was a short, lithe girl with wild brown hair and very familiar looking whiskers.

"You didn't say there would be another one," Argo sniffed as the pair approached.

"My apologies," Shoran replied. "But I was hoping you could help her out instead."

"Whatever," The Rat shrugged. "You already paid so what do I care."

"You already paid?" Sky whispered, tugging at Shoran's sleeve.

"Don't worry about it," He said waving her off. "Just ask her your questions." Sky wasn't normally one to let others take care of her like that but these were different circumstances.

"Well, let's start off with the easy one." Sky said, approaching Argo. "Do you know where a player named Hoki is?"

"Awfully specific," Argo snorted. "I don't know of any players by that name, even if I did I have a privacy policy." The swordswoman frowned, of course it wouldn't be that easy, she closed her eyes and thought of all the information that Siraya's assistant had provided. Why had Hoki come to Wolf Plains? Item hunting, so what item could possibly hold value at the lower levels?

"Do you know any items that can be gained here that would be valuable at the beginning floors? One that could be sold inexpensively but still holds a marginal profit." As Sky spoke Argo was bringing up menu screen after menu screen. Once several windows floated in front of her she began naming items of at a rapid rate, there were so many that Sky soon found her head spinning.

"That doesn't seem very helpful," Shoran commented, steadying a dizzy Sky. "How about a rare quest, I mean something that definitely isn't public knowledge, something with a good reward."

"If the item was worth selling they would want more," Sky mused, holding her head. "So a repeatable quest?" Argo smirked and cocked her head to the side.

"How very interesting, I have heard a rumor…" The information broker began to manipulate her menus again. "Its difficulty level is about moderate and the loot is pretty high for that sort of difficulty. It's a daily quest and it can only be accessed at dawn, so not many players have even heard of it." She bit her lip as she moved her windows around some more. "There is a sand pit about twenty minutes east of the city; it's surrounded by the highest grass on the plains so it can be difficult to see. But if you can be there at dawn a special monster spawns for about thirty minutes."

"What are the odds that he'll be there to farm that monster?" Shoran asked, glancing at Sky.

"He has to start selling items himself if he still plans on making Col, so he'll need high quality items like that. I'd say there is a pretty good chance of him being there."

"Well," Argo interrupted. "Not that it's any of my business but if you plan on making it there before him, I'd suggest you leave now. The sun will be coming up soon."

"Thank you so much." Sky said bowing her head slightly before taking off. Shoran bobbed his head in thanks and then gave chase. "Your job is done, you can leave."

"I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt honey," Shoran winked. Sky rolled her eyes and sighed but the corners of her lips turned up in a small smile. As soon as they exited the city they were accosted by a large wolf, as the canine loped toward them Sky threw a knife straight into its chest. As the wolf paused from the wound and Shoran's dagger found its target, neither player slowed as the monster burst into fragments.

As the duo continued to run eastward they encountered several more wolves and they all fell in the same fashion. They managed to find the tall wavy grass just as the sun was beginning to crest the twenty eighth floor. They paused only for a few moments to catch their breath and then they slowly crept into the grass.

Below them the sand pit opened up thousands of feet in all directions, in the center sat a small pond of water. At the edge of the pool, lapping up water was a sand colored, horse sized wolf.

"Whoa," Sky whispered. "That thing is huge." Shoran nodded in agreement, not daring to make a noise. They watched as the sand wolf finished drinking then proceeded to prowl around the perimeter. As it passed a large patch of grass it froze and sniffed at it, its hackles starting to rise.

Before the wolf could move a player erupted from the bushes, rushing the monster.

"Is that him?" Shoran hissed, Sky ignored him and reached into her belt pouch where she kept her crystals and potions. She removed her spyglass and opened it with a flick and then placed it to her eye. "Where the hell did you get that?"

"Side quest on the twenty fourth floor." She answered, focusing on the player. "It's him." The spy licked his lips as the player, Hoki, leaped over the sand wolf, slicing along its back with his sword.

"What are you supposed to do when you find him?"

"Kibaou wants him in army custody." Sky collapsed her spyglass and replaced it within her pouch.

"Easier said than done," Shoran snorted. "I doubt he gave you a corridor crystal to their jail…" Sky's grim faced answered that for him.

"I have a plan." She said quietly, resting her hand on the hilt of her rapier. As she touched it sparks danced to life around the hand guard. Shoran whistled appreciatively, it was hard to come by weapons with elemental affinities.

"Where-"

"I'm good at finding things," She hissed, pressing her finger to her lips. Below them Hoki was moving in for the finishing blow, just as he was a few steps away from the wolf Sky burst out of the brush and launched herself over the edge of the sand pit.

Hoki noticed the throwing knife just as the data fragments of the sand wolf were clearing; he threw himself into a roll, barely avoiding the projectile. Sky hit the ground and rolled to absorb the drop damage, as she came to her feet she threw another knife, cutting off Hoki as he tried to run. The murderer froze, letting the knife dig into the sand before sprinting toward the southern wall but Shoran, predicting the player's path, appeared in front of him, dagger drawn.

Hoki did not slow down as he approached the spy, instead waiting until he was a few feet in front of him to launch himself into the air, somersaulting over Shoran. The spy spun around and slashed at him but it was too late, the player was on the move again. However Shoran's distraction had given Sky just enough time to catch up. She wrenched her rapier Spiral Shock out of its scabbard and charged Hoki.

Hoki parried her initial blow to the side and returned with a horizontal slash, Sky jumped straight up, tucking her legs under her. As Hoki's sword cut through empty space Sky launched her blade into a serious of thrusts, forcing the murderer to jump back. Sky capitalized on the advantage, charging him again, slicing diagonally, Hoki caught her blade on the edge of his and pushed it away before stabbing at her face.

The swordswoman ducked under the weapon and then stabbed upward, intending to pierce his skull from the bottom. Hoki leaned backward, narrowly avoiding Spiral Shock; Sky threw herself into a backwards roll to avoid having her rapier knocked from her grasp. As she came up Hoki charged towards her, gritting her teeth she bent her knees and brought her rapier to bear, sword pointed straight at Hoki, hand guard next to her face.

The blue glow of a sword skill encompassed the blade of her rapier; she released it and stabbed forward in a powerful thrust. However as she released her sword skill Hoki leapt into another aerial somersault, evading her much like he had dodged Shoran.

"Damn it!" Sky cursed, how could she have fallen for that? Shoran rushed past her, attempting to chase the swift player. As Hoki reached the pit wall he leapt up to a rocky outcrop and from there to the edge of the sand pit. The two acrobats gave chase, following his path up the side of the sandy wall. When they reached the top they saw that Hoki had reached a large hill.

Sky growled and charged after him, pushing her speed as fast as she could. The swordswoman cursed herself for focusing so many stat points on dexterity. When they reached the top of the hill they gained a view of the surrounding plains for miles and Hoki was nowhere to be found.

"Where did he go!?" Sky demanded, gazing around the grass.

"He wasn't that fast, he should still be here." Shoran said as he scanned the immediate area. After a few minutes they gave up, Hoki had disappeared and that was that.

"Damn it," Sky sighed, bringing up her messaging window, after she sent her short message to Cronan and Vlinn she turned back to the spy. "Well, thank you for everything; I guess you kind of earned that second chance." She brought up another menu and manipulated it.

"And here I was hoping for a date," Shoran smirked, Sky smiled back as the friend request popped up in front of Shoran.

"Maybe another time." She promised.

 **** ** _May 8_** ** _th_** ** _, 2023 12:15 pm_**

Vlinn sighed in frustration and closed out the message from Sky, hadn't she been the one that told the not to approach the player? The player stared at the roof of the room he had rented for the day; as soon as he had arrived in Taft the young man had begun his search for the broker. Taft was a fairly active city, many players called this floor their home and the main city bustled as a result. As he wandered from shop to shop Vlinn would stop and ask players for any information he thought would be helpful but usually came up empty handed.

As the sun was beginning to set he approached a blacksmith, beginning to grow weary of the search. As thoughts of Siraya ran through his head the player slowly lost track of himself and ended up bumping into a male player wearing a black coat.

"Sorry," Vlinn muttered, trying to ignore the harassment warnings that the system was sending. The player simply stared at him. "Um, you wouldn't know where I could find the information broker around here would you." Without a word the black clothed player pointed at a tavern behind him and then left.

"Thanks I guess." Vlinn mumbled. "Jerk."

The inn was a rather small affair, barely room for more than five groups of people. As small as it was it had seemed rather busy so the player sat, ordered a drink and then began his questioning once again.

Eventually he found a player willing to talk for a small "donation" of damn near one hundred Col (oh how that had hurt) he set up a meeting with the information broker and from there Vlinn returned to the inn that he had rented for the night.

So there he lay, staring into space, waiting. After he checked the clock on his display and sighed again, he decided that maybe a nap would do him good.

He fell asleep rather easily, but his rest was far from that. The player did not think that it was supposed to be possible to dream in SAO yet he did. Although it was less of a dream and more of a nightmare, Vlinn watched as poor Siraya was cut down again and again. Finally she screamed and the screeching of the alarm matched her.

The warrior dismissed the menu and wiped the back of his hand across his eyes, it felt wet.

Grimly, he got out of bed, equipped his weapon and armor and left the inn coming out onto the cramped streets of Taft. He was scheduled to meet the broker at the last booth on the left of a small noodle shop in the most back street of the city. Seemed safe enough, the player supposed.

As he walked in he took note of the figure that sat at the assigned booth, he looked far too familiar. After ordering a large bowl of ramen Vlinn approached the seat and carefully set his bowl down. Above the player danced his username; Keith.

"Why would you use your real name as a username?" The mercenary raised an eyebrow at the player. He smiled behind a neatly trimmed beard.

"Cause it wasn't taken."

"It figures you would have been here, I'm honestly surprised this is the first time I've seen you."

"Me too, I take it you're doing okay." The player had attended the same college that all three of the mercenaries had; he always seemed to be the one to go to if someone needed to get something and apparently that had not changed. "So what did you need?"

"Information," Vlinn slurped down some noodles as the info broker raised an eyebrow at him expectantly. "On a certain player that you have had dealings with."

"Sorry, privacy policy I can't really give away information of that nature."

"Not even for a friend from the outside?"

"We weren't really friends," He pointed out and Vlinn shrugged in return.

"True enough but I need information on him, it's important."

"Important how?" Keith drummed his fingers on the table as he patiently waited for the player to swallow another mouthful of noodles.

"He murdered an innocent player, a little girl." Vlinn stared straight into the man's eyes and paused to let the sentence sink in. "And I need to find him, his name is Hoki, now what can you tell me about him." Keith stayed silent for a long time, simply staring at the warrior.

"He always came to me about repeatable quests or rare items." He said finally. "Aside from that the only thing I can offer is some little quirks I noticed. He likes being around people but not being noticed and he's an opportunist. If there is a chance of a rare item he will usually be there, he seemed to have very little regard for his life." I slurped my food thoughtfully.

"You don't happen to know anything else?"

"Sorry," He said shaking his head. A Profiteering social butterfly? Where could he possibly be?

"Is there anything huge going on soon?"

"Tomorrow," Keith answered immediately. "There is a clearing party heading for the twenty eighth boss right now, they plan on taking him out tomorrow morning."

"…what guild?"

"The Aincrad Liberation Force is heading it," Vlinn groaned loudly, almost smacking his head into the noodles. Keith ignored the melodramatics and continued. "That would be a good place for him to be, hiding in plain sight."

"Thanks Keith," The player stood up and made for the exit.

"I have a shop called Moon-Stop," He called after the younger man's retreating form. "Stop in whenever you need anything." Vlinn smiled and waved his thanks before stalking out of the store and sending a message to his comrades informing them that they were meeting at the first floor of the twenty eighth labyrinth.


	13. Dance in the Dungeon

**A/N:** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Dance In the Dungeon_**

 ** _May 9_** ** _th_** ** _, 2023 6:10 am_**

Cronan and Sky had been waiting for their third when he arrived at the first floor of the massive dungeon.

"He's here?" Cronan asked, glancing around the immediate area. Even though they were on the floor's safe zone he could not help but feel slight anxiety.

"The boss battle," Vlinn corrected, peering down the hallway. "Keith seems to think that's where he'll be."

"Keith? Like from-"

"Yes!" He cut Sky off, any mention of home was a taboo in SAO and he really did not need those thoughts in his head at the moment.

"So why would he be at the boss fight?" Cronan asked, ignoring the scowling swordswoman next to him.

"Well, our info broker says he likes being around people and he likes rare items."

"Doesn't everybody?"

"He has a dangerous fascination." The red armored player shrugged and signaled for them to follow him into the dungeon. As they continued comparing notes the trio drew their weapons and marched at a quick pace.

"He is a bit of a treasure hunter," Sky said, toying with the hand guard on her rapier. "He wakes up at dawn every day to hunt a rare monster. That's where I found him."

"Yeah we need to talk about that." Cronan glared at her accusingly.

"What?"

" _You_ said not to engage him until everyone was there." She shrugged nonchalantly at both male players.

"I had back up so I took the chance."

"Back up?" Vlinn asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "From who?"

"A friend of mine," She snapped and Cronan snorted.

"You don't have friends!" Vlinn laughed as she glared daggers at him.

"Whatever." She looked away, pouting.

"Did you find out anything useful?" Vlinn asked Cronan while trying to contain the giggles. Cronan's expression darkened as the group jogged down the cavernous hallways in silence for a while. The players found the stairs to the second floor and took them two at a time.

"Remember that guy that got killed by Grizzleclaw?" The warrior said finally. "That was definitely Siraya's friend that died." Sky blinked in surprise but never broke pace. "They went to that cave a few times and after the friend died Hoki went there himself. He met some other players but he didn't meet them until after they killed Grizzleclaw."

"So?" Sky inquired, tightening her grip on her rapier as a wolf came into view. Vlinn dashed past her and cut into the beast. As it turned to look at him Sky leaped forward and thrust her sword into its skull causing it to burst into red fragments.

"So," Cronan continued. "He was there the whole time, behind a rock I guess. But they didn't see him and neither did the bear."

"So he trains his hiding skill," The red armored player surmised, clicking his canines together. "That's going to make finding him all that more difficult."

"Not necessarily," Cronan said. "After I figured out how he could do that I looked into the skill. He needs a suitable place to 'hide'. He can't just disappear, so hopefully there won't be many hiding spots in the boss room."

"That explains how he just disappeared on me!" Sky shouted, her voice echoed down the stone hallways and Vlinn shushed her angrily. After a while they simply kept a forced pace and moved as quickly through the floors as we could, forsaking speaking in favor of conserving energy. Thankfully they did not seem to be far behind the clearing forced so the group did not run into too many creatures while moving.

Vlinn gripped his dagger in frustration, the player probably could have caught up with them with his high agility but Cronan's heavy armor kept him from moving very fast and he could not leave them by their selves in a dungeon, there was always strength in numbers. The player brought up the messaging menu and sent a message to Kibaou asking what floor they were on, how many floors there were and to make sure that he let the mercenary group catch up.

He received the reply one floor later.

"Their clearing force is on the fifteenth floor, six floors above us. Thankfully they've cleared out most of the monsters so it won't take us too long to catch up." Vlinn continued reading and growled in frustration. "There are only eighteen floors."

"I don't see that as a bad thing," Cronan replied dryly.

"He refuses to wait for us, that bastard!" The player dismissed his menu with an angry wave of his hand. After that the group did not speak, saving their energy for the fast pace that they marched at.

They found that other than the pace at which they moved the dungeon itself was rather nice as they did not have to contend with monsters but they had no map data, so they were basically running through a maze blind. It took them just a little over half an hour but they managed to make their way to the sixteenth floor.

 _Surely the army had made its way to the boss room by now_ , Sky thought grimly to herself, she was waiting for the notification that the floor had been cleared and then Hoki would get away again. She clenched her fists at the thought of the murder escaping; if he did they would probably never find him. Beside her Cronan and Vlinn appeared just as agitated, any attempts at conversation from any of them had been met with snaps and growls.

As they entered the safe zone for floor sixteen they were met with a cry of relief. To the left a small player rushed towards the group, Durante floated above his head.

"You finally made it!"

"Oh," Sky said. "You're Siraya's assistant."

"Durante," The boy supplied, nodding his head vigorously. He held out a small blue crystal.

"Is that the map data for this floor?" Cronan demanded snatching it out of the boy's hand.

"Yes, everyone got a copy for this boss battle."

"Kibaou must be trying to draw in some new recruits," Sky commented. "Throwing around wealth can give the illusion of preparedness." Vlinn nodded silently and accessed the new map data, now that they knew where to go the party could hopefully catch up to them before they defeated the boss.

"Thanks kid," The red clad player said as the group headed for the safe zone's exit.

"Wait!" He cried exasperatedly. Three sets of eyes turned to find him rummaging through his menu. "I found that thing that Siraya made for you." A trade menu popped up in front of Vlinn on the boys offering side was one item, Wooden Mask. A gift from Siraya…

"Do you have a teleportation crystal?" The warrior asked as he brought up his own inventory, the boy shook his head and a newfound look of awareness spread across his face. "That's what I thought." Vlinn placed one of the crystals on the trade window and hit accept, the mask appeared in his inventory and he dismissed the menu.

"Get home safe," Sky told the boy as the group left the safe zone, to the left a flash of white brightened the dark stone corridors. Vlinn glanced over to find Cronan running beside him in just his clothes, no armor, and no sword.

"I figured this way I wouldn't slow us down as much." He shrugged. Chuckling, Vlinn opened up the map window and took the lead, running down whichever hallways would get them to the next floor the quickest. He never bothered looking up from the menu as the trio climbed the remaining floor, even when they were attacked by a large Dire wolf. As he continued running the creature loped to meet the distracted player until a knife pierced its shoulder, the wolf froze for a moment and Cronan smashed its head into the stone wall, the beast disappeared just as Vlinn reached it.

He brushed the data fragments away as he continued to navigate through the map.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" His friends replied, laughing. Soon they reached the eighteenth floor and sure enough the door to the boss was swung wide open and the sounds of battle echoed down the stone hallways.

"Damn," Cronan growled, breathing erratically, the run had not been easy on him. Neither of his comrades bothered to reply, Vlinn discarded the floating menu and dashed into the room, Sky hot on his heels. Cronan followed after replacing his armor and weapon.

The chaotic scene of battle unfolded itself as they entered; large groups of warriors hacked and slashed at the boss The Elder Fang. The beast was no normal wolf; it was a titan sized were-wolf that wielded a giant curved sword. Both mercenaries scanned the room and to their dismay found that there were at least five large rocks, all favorable hiding places.

"Where could he be," Vlinn growled.

"If he's here for a rare item then he'll try to get the last hit." Sky said, peering at the rocks. "So he'll be as close to the boss as possible.

"We'll need to test that theory," Her comrade replied before turning to the newly arrived Cronan. "I need you to push the boss toward that stone over there." Vlinn pointed toward the left corner of the room, in which sat the most isolated stone.

"One boss delivery coming right up!" The warrior drew Codpiece and charged at the beast yelling loudly. Just as the boss parried a blow from one of the Clearers Cronan rushed in and smashed his blade into the beast, causing it to stumble backwards. Two steps was all it took for The Elder Fang to reach the specified rock. Thankfully the army unwittingly helped, they swarmed the boss after its little stumble, effectively keeping it in place.

Sky's eyes never left the rock through the entire goings on.

"There!" She hissed. "I saw him go behind the rock."

"Let's go. Cronan!" Vlinn called to his friend and pointed to the rock. The taller player nodded in response and lumbered over, ramming his sword into its scabbard. As Sky and Vlinn neared the rock Cronan drew his fist back and let a yellow glow fall onto his skin. With a roar he smashed his knuckles into the large stone, breaking it into pieces. The player that had been hiding behind it yelped and jumped back.

"That never gets old!" Cronan shouted, a maniacal grin on his face.

Before them stood their target, the player Hoki. He wore the highest level leather armor that could be purchased and on his hip hung a long curved dagger.

"Hoki!" Sky growled. "You're under arrest for the murder of the merchant player Siraya."

"Under arrest?" He laughed. "There are no police in this world, girl!"

"Come quietly or face the consequences," Cronan continued, ignoring the murderer's taunts. Had they rehearsed this? Hoki dashed toward the exit but Vlinn sprinted in front of him, intent on cutting off his escape route.

"Acrobatics!" Sky screamed.

What?

Hoki grinned at the player in front of him and leapt into the air, curling himself into a tight ball and somersaulting over Vlinn. He landed in a run and continued toward the exit.

Oh, that's what she meant.

"That would have been nice to know beforehand!" Vlinn shouted as Sky rushed toward him, the red armored player growled and followed, easily catching up to their foe. As he cut him off again the murderer attempted the same maneuver.

"I forgot!" Sky replied as she leapt up, meeting Hoki in the air. The female swordsman took advantage of his surprise and scored a hit on his cheek, creating a red rip on his avatar. The player dropped to the ground and jumped backwards, right into Cronan.

"Don't forget about me!" He grinned swinging his massive sword at the player. Hoki ducked and rushed in under the blade thrusting his dagger into Cronan. The warrior blacksmith simply smirked and dropped his weapon; the dagger barely doing any damage through his heavy armor, the players close proximity made it hard to use his Two-handed Sword. "Fisticuffs it is sir!" He smiled and brought his fists down on the murderer.

It only took two hits for Hoki to figure out that he needed to get away from warrior. The player grit his teeth and then dropped to the ground and rolled to the side but as he came to his feet Sky was there to meet him, raining a flurry of thrusts onto him. Several cuts appeared on his side and his healthbar slowly decreased.

"Give up and come quietly," Sky snarled, keeping her rapier pointed at him. Hoki narrowed his eyes and swore at her in response. He dashed straight at her and Sky brought up her sword. "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." Before the player could reach her she rolled aside giving Vlinn an opening to use a charging sword skill, scoring a solid hit on the player's shoulders as he dashed past his target.

As the players surrounded Hoki a loud howl resounded through the chamber, followed closely by the chiming of a boss' data fragments floating away. Vlinn glanced over for a moment to see the large crowd cheering, that moment was all he needed to rush toward and then flip over the distracted player, into the crowd.

"Damn!" Vlinn growled before charging after him. He moved as swiftly as he could, trying not to hit any innocent Clearers.

"Vlinn?" The warrior heard Kibaou to the right. "Is that-" And then he was too far to hear him. Slowly the speedy player closed in on the murderer; Vlinn held his dagger at the ready and focused on a charging skill. When he released it the player sped toward Hoki and cut his leg out from underneath him.

He cried out as he toppled over, clutching at his stump, the actual act of having his leg removed did not hurt but it was still psychologically painful to see your leg get cut off. He glared at the offending player and Vlinn leveled his long dagger at him in response.

"I thought you were trying to take me alive?" He growled at the warrior.

"If I let them take you your leg will regenerate and you'll only get away again, murderer." To Vlinn's surprise he laughed, loudly.

"It doesn't look like I'm the murderer to them," He pointed at the crowd and then above his attacker. Vlinn's color cursor was orange; he looked toward his friends and saw that Sky's was as well. Both players had harmed him before he hit either of them, Cronan's remained green as Hoki had attacked him before the blacksmith could strike.

"It doesn't matter what they think!" Vlinn growled. "You killed an innocent girl, she wasn't more than a child."

"I killed our friend too." He chuckled. "But Siraya was definitely the better PK of the two, mostly because I did it myself."

"Why did you kill her?" The standing player asked slowly.

"I don't know," He smiled; Vlinn growled and raised his dagger. "Go ahead. Kill me and then everyone here will see you as a murderer and eventually everyone in Aincrad. Oh and I know that eventually that orange will wear off and you'll have an innocent green color cursor again, but everyone will know. And most of all you will know! How long can you live behind that false mask of green?"

Mask? Vlinn materialized the mask Siraya had made him and stared into its empty eyes. The wood had a slight red hue and the mask itself was carved into the snarling visage of a demon. That poor little girl had made this for someone she thought of as a friend…wouldn't a friend avenge a friend's death?

"I want him alive!" He heard Kibaou shouting. "I told you to bring him in alive!"

"Does he deserve that?" Cronan said beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Did Siraya?" Sky asked from behind.

If you die in the game, you die in real life, the cardinal rule of SAO. If you kill someone here, you kill someone in real life. Hoki had done just that, Siraya was not just a player; she was a real person that he had murdered.

Vlinn placed the demons face over his own, hiding himself from the stares of the on-lookers.

" **We all wear masks**." He told the smiling player as he brought the dagger across his throat.

 _The crowd fell silent and the host simply stared at the young man sitting before her. Eventually she recovered her professionalism and gave the audience a smile, albeit an uneasy one._

 _"_ _Well as we know, any act of violence committed in the game have been pardoned and labeled as self-defense." The hostess turned to her guest and continued. "So this…"_

 _"_ _Player-killing," He supplied. "It was pretty frequent, a lot of people died to 'assassins'. Some guilds eventually made a job out of it."_

 _"_ _Well, as you said, people were just trying to survive-"_

 _"_ _Does that justify murder though?" The young man interrupted, staring pointedly at her. "I myself have killed players…always in self-defense and never for money. But the fact is that I took a life."_

 _"_ _But the law-"_

 _"_ _Does nothing to clear a conscience. People died in that world and it only got worse."_


	14. Ends Meet

**_A/N: I do not own Sword Art Online in anyway, nor am I making profit._**

 ** _Ends Meet_**

 ** _May 9th, 20232:00 pm_**

After the encounter at the end of the twenty eighth floor the party had been bereted by shouting and screaming, most prominently by Kibaou.

"I told you I wanted him alive!" He had screamed for what had to have been the fourteenth time. The rest of the crowd seemed to be screaming for their blood, never mind that they had just saved them from a would-be assassin. So they did the only thing they could do in such a pressing situation.

They ran away as fast as they could.

The trio had the privilege of being the first players to step foot in the twenty ninth floor and it all rushed by in a blur as they fled from the crowd.

The group found the nearest inn, rented a room and locked themselves in for the next few nights, not daring to go outside. Eventually Vlinn received a message from Kibaou stating that after much deliberation he had decided that the trio had taken the best course of action available to them at the time. He informed them that they would be receiving more work in the future.

After another day in the self-induced prison, they quietly made their way to the teleportation gate under the cover of night and fled to Panareze. After they were comfortably settled in again, the party waited for their next job. After much discussion the three felt as if that was all they could do, the front lines would recognize them, so exploring the newest floor was off-limits for a while. Kibaou had of course assured them that everything had been explained but people always tended to make the worst out of situations.

They had done nearly the same thing to beta testers, branding them with the name beaters.

 _What does that make me?_ Vlinn found himself wondering, he had only watched a little of the beta testing, that certainly didn't make him a beater. Regardless of the semantics, the group assumed they would probably get off lighter than the beta testers did.

Weeks passed without word of a job, so they spent the days by themselves. Sky went off to whatever floor she pleased and did not return until night. One evening she came home with a curved sword hanging at her waist when asked why she changed weapons, she only replied with a shrug.

Cronan spent much of his time either at the local blacksmith, using their forges or helping Lisbeth with her smithing orders as he was the only one she trusted to assist her.

Vlinn was content to just stay in their rented room and play with his ocarina, he had managed to learn several of the songs that were played by the NPC musicians that gave background music to each floor and even a few from games he had once played. In the mornings he would visit his favorite tea shop in Panareze and then stroll through the town, checking the different shops.

It was on one such stroll that a weapon caught his eye. A small player owned smithy sat on the main street and it had two large windows in which many different weapons were displayed. To the side of the larger window sat a thin curved sword, it was rather plain in terms of beauty, the hilt was a simple leather wrapped one and the scabbard was basic black with no embellishments.

But that is what made it beautiful, its simplicity, if Sky was going to switch weapons why shouldn't he? So he purchased the weapon without a second thought and equipped it right away. Later that night Sky would cast an accusing glare at him and mutter "copycat" to herself.

Aside from Vlinn's monetary loss and weaponry gain, their days were lived in that simple routine. Eventually their funds would run low, they were aware of this and so they waited for work. The group found that they did not particularly enjoy the fact that they were relying on _Kibaou_.

They could have gone to the front lines and started questing again or even attempted a dungeon dive, but whatever Kibaou had for them was significantly safer than heading to the front lines straight away, or so they hoped.

After almost a month of silence Vlinn finally received a message from the sub-leader, for once he did not require that they meet face to face. Instead they were to meet one of his guild-mates on the current front line on the twenty ninth floor.

It was there that the mercenaries first met Thinker.

The party arrived at the main square of the twenty ninth floor several minutes early however Thinker was already there, his assistant Yulier ever present. Thinker was a slight man, no taller than Vlinn and almost half the width. He wore a standard army captain's uniform; complete with commanding officer ribbons, on his waist rested a silver rapier.

Yulier wore the basic uniform that all soldier of the army wore; her silver hair gleamed in contrast to her dull grey/green clothes. Her eyes flickered back and forth, watching for danger, her whip coiled in her hands as if she were expecting it.

"We finally get the privilege of meeting," The leader said cheerily. He extended his hand toward them and they each shook it awkwardly. "Kibaou speaks very highly of your skills." Did he now?

"We just do our job," Cronan said, shrugging listlessly

"Yes, well you do them well." He said with a smile, a rather brilliant smile. Was it radiating light?

"What sort of job are we expecting this time?" Vlinn crossed his arms and leaned back against a nearby wall. The cheerfulness diminished quickly, replaced with a strange somberness.

"One very similar to your last mission…" The guild-leader stared at them intently.

"Fantastic." Vlinn heard Sky mutter, she frowned and stood up. "Our last job wasn't exactly the best example of our skill."

"What you did was needed." Thinker said quietly, turning away from them to look at the fountain. "The players may not know it and neither did Kibaou at the time. He admitted to me later that what you did was probably for the best. It's unfortunate that someone had to die, but many more would have died if he hadn't."

Then why didn't that make the death any easier?

"Well," Thinker turned back toward us. "Will you take the job?"

"You haven't even told us-"

"Yes!" Sky cut Cronan off, her eyes locked onto Thinkers as she steeled herself.

"Glad to hear it," The vibrant grin had returned. "There have been several assassination reports in this town in the past few days. All of them were attempted, or in some cases completed, on player merchants. The remaining merchants are frightened and they are threatening to leave this floor."

"Then let them leave," Vlinn sighed, reclining against his wall further, he let his head loll back and stared up at the beautifully azure sky.

"If only it were that simple." Thinker frowned. "The Clearers rely on merchant players these days, especially on this floor of all places!" He gestured beyond the wall of the city. The twenty ninth floor had garnered the nickname; Bone Yard. The entire floor was a desolate wasteland covered in human cemeteries or the graveyards of monsters. The water was toxic, the land parched and barren, the only monsters on the floor were all undead type creatures, so no one could hunt for food and without plants players could not mix healing potions. "Without the player merchants the Clearers would have to rely on the shops here, but they're expensive and their stocks are very low."

"Wait," Sky's eyebrows furrowed. "You said that they were killed in town, but the System restricts deaths from other players in town settings."

"You are correct, the System normally does, however on this floor there are no towns, even this smattering of buildings is not recognized by the Cardinal System. I guess it's part of the floor's theme." Thinker shrugged and then regarded the party with a smile. "So?"

"So we need to stop the assassination attempts and keep the merchants here," Cronan summarized.

"At least until this floor is cleared." Thinker nodded, smiling again.

"Any useful information?" Vlinn asked, scanning the immediate environment. The army leader nodded to his assistant and she bowed her head before stepping forward.

"There are two remaining merchants in the city; from the interrogations we have conducted we have concluded that the attacks all occurred around the same time, midnight."

"Cliché," Cronan snorted. Yulier pointedly ignored him and continued.

"They have been attacked every night for the last week, the first night was just to serve as a warning, the two merchants hired guards and they have been enough to fend the assassins off. However from what the guards told us, it seems that the PK'ers are simply toying with them."

"Where can we find them?" Sky asked after seating herself on one of the available benches.

"The first merchant, Guzil, resides on Fourth street, the second, Mullin, is on main street."

"That's all the information we have readily available." Thinker said, stepping up next to his assistant. "It's up to you from here, inform Kibaou when you have completed the job or have any information that we should know." At his nod Yulier materialized a large bag of Col and tossed it to Cronan.

"Your usual fee, you will receive the second half on completion," the whip user stated with militaristic monotony.

"One last thing," Thinker said, stopping and glancing over his shoulder. "The bounty on these assassins is posted as dead or alive, preferably alive…but we understand accidents happen." So he _did_ have a cold side. After that the two walked to the gate and teleported back to the first floor.

"What's our first move?" Vlinn asked no one in particular.

"Well," Cronan began. "We could-"

"Let's go question the merchants first." Sky said loudly. She stared at the red clad player expectantly, ignoring Cronan's growls. He shrugged, it was the best option they had and so they made their way to the two shops.

Guzil's store was extravagant; he sold not only potions and field equipment but also furniture for housing and other luxuries that were hardly needed in this kind of landscape. The merchant was a very large man with an annoying habit of laughing at his own jokes. With each loud guffaw his rotund stomach would jiggle and shake.

"You have a very fascinating shop," Sky remarked, taking an interest in a small wooden carving instead of focusing on his large stomach.

"Thank you!" He chuckled. "Although I sell such rare and high quality items, for fair prices I might add (pause for laughter), all of the Clearers seem to favor that other little store. They just can't see the divinity in my items I suppose." The fat man threw his arm over his forehead dramatically.

Divinity? Cronan mouthed to Vlinn, he shrugged as they left the shop, heading for the next stop.

Mullin's shop was a much smaller affair and a little on the shabby side, however his inventory was stocked with food, potions, water bottles and even camping supplies. His prices were about even with Guzil's but his shop seemed much less…pompous. This merchant did not offer any information different than what Guzil or Yulier had but he was much more pleasant to talk to.

"Even more pleasant than Yulier," Sky remarked as we stalked back to the city square. "All that woman did was bark out sentences and glare. Seriously I thought she was going to burn a hole through my skull with her eyes."

"That's probably because you were getting a little too close to her beloved leader."

"What do you mean?" the woman scowled up at her comrades.

"He means you were basically all over him," Cronan remarked. "It was pretty gross, we're in public for crying out loud."

"I was just talking!"

"Uh-huh, you a flirty hoe." Vlinn smirked and sat down.

"So," Cronan said ignoring Sky's screams of outrage. "We should probably set guards to both of them. You and I could take Mullin and Sky could guard fatty." Vlinn nodded, trying to hide his smile as Sky sighed in disgust.

Vlinn sat atop Mullins counter in his meditation pose, when meditating the system gave his targeting system a wider scope area, so hopefully he would be more aware of their surroundings. And if he was not, with any luck Cronan would be, the warrior-smith sat in a chair in the corner, eyes closed, head cocked to the side.

He was listening for anything that might betray an assassin' presence, the duo had been waiting for the better part of an hour. Mullin sat in a chair behind the counter, absent mindedly tracing circles on the polished wood with the toe of his boot. Vlinn heard the merchant sigh and shuffle impatiently behind him. Vlinn could not blame him; it had been the same way for the past three days, simply waiting like that until the morning.

"Quiet," The warrior growled lowly.

And that was when they made their move, the assassins were well trained player-killers, they had recognized Cronan's Listening skill and had waited until one of them spoke loudly enough to cover their initial approach. Cronan swore and leapt to his feet, a yellow glow falling onto his fist. As the warrior-smith punched at the darkness Vlinn finally caught a glimpse of the player as the shadows themselves seemed to leap over Cronan.

Vlinn attempted to disentangle his crossed legs so he could intercept the player. As he was struggling to move the black armored assassin's arm moved across his body and Vlinn, in his state of heightened awareness, caught the glint of a knife flying toward him. Before he could react Vlinn felt the unpleasant tingling of a wound on his upper arm.

"Shit," The player growled watching his healthbar decrease slightly, then to his chagrin the indicator took on a yellowish hue, he was paralyzed.

An unpleasant shiver ran through the mercenary's body before he lost all feeling and he tipped backwards crashing to the floor behind the counter. Mullin gasped, leaping up from his chair and pressing himself into the corner.

Beyond the counter Vlinn heard Cronan engaging the assassin, several shouts and the clang of metal on metal. The prone player cursed at himself silently and experimentally attempted to move his body. The only thing that responded was his left arm and it reacted sluggishly.

 _So I can't even open my menu, awesome._

His body still somewhat resembled the meditating position so Vlinn set to work slowly re-positioning his arms and legs just using his left arm. When he was in the appropriate form he laced his fingers together and closed his eyes.

The player tried to block out the sounds of battle which mostly consisted of Cronan swearing creatively at the enemy. Boots thudded softly above the paralyzed player.

"Stay b-back!" Mullin stammered as the slither of a sword leaving its leather scabbard rang out. He was answered with a chuckle and although Vlinn heard nothing he knew that the player had drawn one of his throwing knives. The player slowed his breathing further as the merchant went from frightened defiance to crying and groveling.

Vlinn felt a wave of cold wash over his body and all of his limbs resumed function, training the Meditation skill had paid off. Vlinn rolled over, uncrossing his legs and then leapt up, drawing his curving sword. The knife left the assassins hand as the mercenary came to his feet and he swung his sword in an attempt to intercept the knife but the targeting system was not meant to block an attack aimed at someone else.

The projectile zoomed past the blade and sank into Mullins poorly armored shoulder, the merchant let out a cry as his health dropped and his legs gave out beneath him. His healthbar took on the paralysis color and the PK'er moved to pounce. Vlinn's weapon glowed blue and he dashed toward the enemy who simply somersaulted over him and landed in front of Mullin. Before Vlinn could reorient himself the assassin had drawn his dagger.

"No!" The red armored player shouted, summoning a charging type skill to his curved blade. It was too late, before he could release the skill the assassin plunged his dagger into Mullin's chest. The merchant gaped down at the weapon with tear rimmed eyes. As the man burst into red light the assassin spun around, right into Vlinn's blade, it was thanks to his quick reflexes that he only received a shallow hit on the cheek. Unfortunately Vlinn could not stop quickly enough and as the assassin dove over the counter the mercenary found himself sliding face first into the wall.

However the player killer had found himself face to face with a forgotten Cronan.

"Boo-yah!" A yellow glowing fist sped toward the player, their enemy's eyes widened for a split second before he threw himself to the side causing Cronan to slam his fist into the counter. Cursing the warrior spun around as several red notices popped up above the counter, he found the room empty and the door to the shop slightly ajar. Cronan swore again, loudly, as Vlinn peeled himself off the wall.

"Have I ever mentioned how glad I am that this game doesn't let us feel pain?" He turned toward his friend as he massaged his nose. Cronan had the door open and was peering intently down the street. "He's gone man; we'll just have to hope that Sky did a better job than us." Cronan slammed the door shut and approached the counter grumbling.

"Well that sucks," He muttered, staring at the spot where our charge had died.

"Yeah, I hope they don't take that out of our pay. What?" Vlinn asked as Cronan gave him an incredulous stare. The red clad player shrugged and turned back toward the counter, a small crack had appeared where Cronan's fist had connected. "Did you crack an indestructible object!?" Cronan rolled his eyes and stalked out of the building without waiting for his comrade.

Guzil's shop looked like a bull had been goaded, threatened, bribed and then been thrown into the large store before combusting spontaneously. In short, the place was trashed, however Guzil was alive and well, barring the irritated grumbles as he took stock of his destroyed merchandise. Sky perched proudly on top of the extravagant white marble counter, her smile seemed to radiate smugness.

"He's alive," She practically sang as she swept her arm out toward the merchant.

"We can see," Cronan said dismissively, examining the destruction. Sky deflated visibly, scowling at the warrior.

"Where's your guy?" She asked suspiciously.

"Taking a nap," Vlinn said quickly before Cronan could answer. The bodyguard that Guzil had hired to assist Sky stood unobtrusively in a corner of the large room offering no commentary.

"You may leave now," Guzil said without turning toward the mercenaries. "It's daybreak and they only attack at night."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea sir. Perhaps we could-"

"No!" The merchant cut Sky off quickly. "I've had more than enough of your company thank you very much." And with that he ushered the three of them out of his nearly destroyed store.

"Why does the other guy get to stay!" Sky protested loudly. Cronan and Vlinn shared a conspiratorial glance, why _did_ he get to stay?

"Come on Sky." Cronan said picking her up, much like a kitten and leading the way to the inn they were staying at.

"So what happened to Mullin?" The swordswoman asked quietly, after several minutes of walking in silence.

"The assassin was stronger than we thought." Cronan replied simply, frowning.

"Something didn't feel right when I was fighting my guy." Sky matched Cronan's frown and furrowed her brow. "Like he wasn't really fighting me. And then that other body guard didn't do much except stand in front of Guzil." Cronan set her down as the party continued toward the inn. "And then there was Guzil…he didn't seem frightened at all. At first I just chalked it up to the fact that he'd been attacked before. But…no matter how many times I'm faced with possible death, I'm still terrified. And that man certainly doesn't have the spine to stand up to death like that."

The small swordswoman fell silent, staring at the dirt sidewalk as we walked through the almost barren streets. The NPC's were few and far between and the players even more so.

"Something definitely isn't right about this." Cronan mused, playing with one of the spikes on his pauldrons. "Maybe we should ask around, some players might have a better insight to what's going on." Vlinn snorted loudly causing Cronan to glare at him. "Yes?"

"That plan is all well and good, you're just missing something rather crucial."

"And that would be?"

"Players!" He practically shouted, spinning around and sweeping his arms out. "This place is an absolute graveyard, for lack of better term. The odds of us finding any player at all is rather slim." As he finished the small public display of cynicism Vlinn heard quiet chatter behind him, followed by several footsteps and laughter. Cronan stared behind his comrade, an amused smile threatening to widen. Vlinn heard the chiming of the inns door bell and then the heavy wooden door slamming shut. Cronan's eyes slid over to him and he raised an eyebrow triumphantly. "Fuck off."

The player spun around again and stomped into the inn not bothering to wait for his irritating party. Cronan followed quickly still smiling and Sky let out a small giggle before bouncing in behind them.


	15. Prince of Hell

**_A/N: Same disclaimer as the last 15._**

 ** _Prince of Hell_**

 ** _June 13_** ** _th_** ** _, 2023 10:33 am_**

The small group of players, Clearers by the look of their equipment were sitting around one of the tables in the bar area of the inn, drinking from mugs and talking loudly.

"Alright, plan time." Cronan muttered. "One of us needs to go over there, chat them up a bit and ask some questions. Somebody…" He stared pointedly at Sky, raising an eyebrow, Vlinn smirked and followed suit.

"Why me?!" She snapped.

"You know why," The red clad warrior whispered with a smile.

"Screw you guys," She hissed before stalking over to the table of Clearers.

"Is it because she's a flirty ho?"

"Indeed it is."

"Hey boys," The swordswoman said to the players, smiling sweetly and blinking rapidly.

"Is…is she _batting_ her eyes?"

"Trying to," Cronan grunted, shaking his head. Vlinn snorted, trying to hold in his bubbling laughter, at least until she was done. A few minutes later Sky walked back to them, throwing a smile over her shoulder at the Clearers, when she turned back toward her comrades a scowl covered her face.

"Shut up!" She snapped as Vlinn began to speak, he promptly closed his mouth with an audible click. "Okay, so it seems no one even visits Guzil's shop, like at all. The only useful information I got was that he had a very small clientele when the floor first opened up but that was because he was the first merchant player to open up. After others came everyone stopped going to him, even when it was just him and Mullin, all of the Clearers preferred Mullin, he was less expensive and more practical."

Cronan scratched his chin in thought and Vlinn tapped his foot as they processed the information.

"We should follow him," Vlinn said slowly, glancing up at his friends. Cronan shrugged but Sky slowly shook her head.

"That other body guard follows him everywhere and he's got a really high Detection level."

"Haven't you been working on your Hiding skill?" Cronan raised his eyebrow as he tapped his chin with his index finger.

"Well, yeah…"

"When did you start doing that?" Vlinn asked.

"When you were just sitting on your ass all day for a month straight."

"I went for walks…" His defense sounded weak even to him, so Sky just rolled her eyes and turned back to Cronan.

"My skill level isn't that high, but I'll bet the body guard's is."

"It won't be high enough to detect a hiding player. He would need near mastered for that." Which was almost impossible, the game was at the point where skill levels at the higher levels only came with a lot of time and hard work.

"So you just want me to follow them and you guys will track me on your maps and follow us from a distance." Sounded like a solid plan as long as you did not think about all of the ways it could go wrong, but they rarely did that anyway. So the party left the inn and made their way back to Guzil's shop and after taking up positions, Sky on a nearby roof and Cronan and Vlinn slouching in a nearby alley, they waited.

Their respite was short as Guzil was soon striding down the street with his guard ever present. The haughty man never once checked behind him as he made his journey out of town and into the barren wastes. Even his bodyguard did not seem to have his guard up, at least while they were in the town. As soon as they passed through the gates the man's two-handed sword came out of its scabbard. But even with the extra precaution taken for field work, he still never looked behind him and it never appeared as if he were scanning for anything with his Detection skill.

As the duo trailed them through the wasteland Cronan took note that the farther in they went the more barren, empty and all together depressing it got.

 _No wonder nobody wants to quest here_ , He mused. _Then again, that means there should be tons of quests that are still available._ He filed that information away for later in case any of them ever needed to power level or had a death wish, whichever came first.

The sun was beginning to set and Vlinn was just thinking that he really did not want to be out there after dark when Sky's icon stopped moving on the map and a message popped up in front of Cronan.

"Looks like they've arrived at wherever the hell they've been taking us." He whispered, gesturing for his friend to follow him to the top of the hill. As soon as they reached the crest the players dropped to their stomachs, trying to remain unseen. There was no sign of Sky but Cronan was willing to bet she was behind that creepy tree…or maybe that creepy bush or even that creepy tombstone.

Their quarry had entered a small cemetery that was surrounded by broken and rusted black iron-wrought gates. As they approached the center of the broken graveyard another player seemed to appear out of the shadows of _another_ creepy tree at the opposite side of the cemetery.

The new arrival wore a dark cloak, hiding any distinguishable features, as the two parties approached each other Guzil opened his arms in a welcoming gesture. Vlinn glanced over at his partner to find that his eyes were tightly shut and his head was tilted to the side so his ear was pointed at the targets.

He knew Cronan had been training his Listening skill, but Vlinn was sure it was not high enough to hear them from their current distance. His suspicions were confirmed when the warrior growled lowly and turned his back.

"We'll have to rely on Sky." He said quietly, keeping his eyes trained on the man with the cloak. Guzil had opened his menu and was scrolling through it but after a moment the cloaked figure held up his hand and turned toward the first creepy tree.

"You might as well come out, I know you're there." The man's smooth voice rang through the air clearly, at first nothing happened and then Sky stepped out from behind the tree, hand resting warily on her sword's hilt. The player shook his head and turned to our hill. "You two as well, no point in hiding any longer."

Neither warrior moved at first but then the realization that his Detection skill was probably monstrously high sunk in and they slowly climbed to their feet and descended to the graveyard below.

When they drew nearer to the group assembled in the cemetery the duo heard Guzil shouting at his bodyguard for his "incompetence, I mean honestly you brag about that detection skill of yours and then you don't even use it, I could have died, what am I paying you for?" While the cloaked man watched on in amusement, at least Vlinn thought it was amusement; it was hard to tell with his hood up. Sky in the meantime had not moved from her place next to the tree. She gripped her sword tightly and kept her eyes trained on the cloaked man.

As Sky focused on the stranger her targeting system brought up the man's color cursor and a name above his healthbar that read PoH.

"Poh?" Vlinn asked out loud. "Like the panda?" The man's amusement seemed to disappear instantly.

"It's PoH," He said pronouncing each letter. "It's an acronym if you must know, figure it out for yourself."

"What are you going to do about these ones, they know far too much." Guzil glared at the mercenaries as he wrung his hands together.

"I'll be taking my payment." PoH said, ignoring the merchant's earlier question.

"Payment?" The fat man's eyes widened at the man in the cloak. "For what? Your job isn't done yet, these three know our plans by now."

"My job was only the merchants and the last one died last night, now hand over the payment." Guzil looked as if he was going to continue arguing, but his bodyguard (clearly employed by PoH) drew his sword and rested it on the merchant's throat. The large man swallowed hard and shakily brought up his menu and materialized a heavy bag of Col.

PoH took it and raised its info menu to make sure the appropriate amount was there and then put in his inventory.

"It's been a pleasure." PoH said, bowing slightly before spinning on his heels and walking to the mausoleum, after taking a moment to glare threateningly at the party, his apparent cohort followed.

"What about me?" Guzil shouted, causing his flab to bounce slightly. PoH simply smiled at him and then traced a small sigil that was carved at the base of the crypt. As he lifted his hand from the marble the ground started to quake violently, throwing the assembled players, with the exception of Sky, to the grass. Hands burst forth from the ground among us and slowly skeletons crawled from their graves. By the time Vlinn climbed to his feet they had been surrounded by a small group of reanimated bones, some holding weapons others not.

The red armored player growled and drew his sword, next to him Cronan and Sky did the same. Guzil gasped and stepped back almost tripping over a tombstone, he shakily drew his mace which he held as if he never had before. Vlinn saw Cronan's body shift and he took the cue to dash forward and cut into the nearest skeleton. After his first few swings Cronan dropped Codpiece and resorted to his fists, finding that they dealt more damage to the undead than a sharp weapon did, the same rang true for Guzil, his blunt weapon had an advantage over these creatures. He even managed to take one down before its friends swarmed over him and Sky and Vlinn were forced to intervene.

Through the battle the players worked methodically to shepherd the skeletons away from the merchant and toward Cronan's deadly fists, Vlinn and Sky scored hits on their HP when they could. Soon the graveyard was silent again and all of the bones rested as they should. As the group took stock of themselves Cronan saw Guzil's hand drop into his belt pouch but before he could react Sky was already there, sword swinging in a red arc as she separated the man's hand from his arm.

"You aren't going anywhere!" She hissed, resting the point of her sword on the merchant's collarbone. As the goings on proceeded Vlinn opened his menu and sent a message to Kibaou, informing him that they had a prisoner. His answer was swift and his orders clear; Don't move.

Simple enough.

"You're under arrest for the assassination of several players, as per the orders of the Aincrad Liberation Force." Cronan stepped close to the player. "We wish to bring you in alive, but if you try anything lethal force has been authorized." It was almost scary how official the group was starting to sound.

"Please," The man begged. "I'll give you money, just let me go, I'll-" The man was silenced by a glare from Sky and some added pressure to her sword. Kibaou and some soldiers arrived within the half hour, which the party was thankful for as they did not want to have to spend any more time in the graveyard than was necessary.

"Are you sure this guy did it?" Kibaou seemed skeptical; he raised an eyebrow as the fat man almost cried. "Doesn't seem like much of a murderer."

"He hired assassins," Vlinn replied. "He wasn't getting any business so he figured if he was the only merchant on this floor then players wouldn't really have a choice but to go to him unless they wanted to take shopping trips off floor, which is a hassle for Clearers. So his business would go up and he'd have control of the prices." Kibaou snorted and shook his head as he brought up his menu; he materialized the rest of their payment and deposited it into Sky's waiting hands.

"I'm just glad you got this guy alive."

"Me too." Vlinn heard Cronan mutter.

"Those assassins are still loose though." Sky commented, putting the Col away. Yes, the assassins, unfortunately it would not be the last time that the trio would meet them.


	16. Sake and Eggnog for Christmas

**_A/N: Guess who still doesn't own Sword Art online? This guy!_**

 ** _Saké and Eggnog for Christmas_**

 ** _(Vlinn)_**

 ** _December 23_** ** _rd_** ** _, 2023 7:02 pm_**

The plopping sound of snow falling off of branches echoed eerily through the overly silent forest. The Forest of Wandering was the thirty fifth floor's dungeon or sub-dungeon if you preferred to think of the labyrinths as dungeons. The Clearers had finished this floor almost a month ago but as their goal was to clear each floor as quickly as possible they rarely set foot into the sub dungeons of other floors.

This left the dungeons open for normal mid-level players like us or rather Cronan and I as Sky's combat skills had recently jumped to clearing level when we weren't looking, skills are sneaky like that. The forest was a mostly unexplored dungeon so mini bosses and un-repeatable quests were still in abundance.

This particular dungeon was a random transfer field type, every time we left one area it would randomly send us to another area of the forest. The only way to travel safely through was to have a completed map of the dungeon which could be acquired through a difficult quest involving a monster filled pit, an Amazonian princess and an ungodly amount of ostriches. Or you could buy the map from an info broker with connections, we opted for the second choice and Keith was happy to oblige, for a price of course.

It was the day before Christmas eve and we decided that instead of sitting around with nothing to do as the army was taking a break from pretty much everything, so we wouldn't get a job, that we would go out dungeon diving. If we were careful we could pull in a nice profit, maybe some nice equipment and hopefully have enough to buy each other some Christmas presents. We had neglected to celebrate last year; I blamed it on the stress but this year we would do something for the happiest day of the year, hell we had survived for a year, that was a great reason to be merry.

So there we were, wandering through the Forest of Wandering as Sky pointed out several times.

"And you're the queen of redundancy," Cronan said rolling his eyes.

"It's funny!" She replied with a small giggle. I smiled at the two as we continued on through the forest, making our way from area to area, slaying the high leveled creatures that roamed the snowy forest floor. "I think we should go this way." Sky pointed at a small gateway made from two trees that had bent and grown into each other. Cronan peeked over her shoulder at the map, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, Sky? That area is marked with a question mark."

"Exactly! There's no telling what treasure we'll find in there!"

"Or monsters," I pointed out, staring at the map. The swordswoman scowled and skipped away from us, clutching the map to her chest.

" _I_ have the map," She declared. "So _I_ will decide where we go." Cronan and I shared a defeated look, she was right. The map would only work for the rest of the party if the holder went through an entrance first, if any of the other players went into a different area it would be randomized.

"Fine," Cronan sighed and gestured toward her preferred entrance. "Lead away." Sky bounced toward the new area holding her head up proudly while we trudged on behind her. The question mark covered not one but two areas in the dungeon. That was far too many variables for my liking and as we entered the first area I drew the curved sword I had bought one floor back Fang Shamshir. Fortunately my saber-like weapon wasn't needed; the area was vastly empty except for a small chest and a small circle of blue glowing mushrooms.

Sky ignored the chest in favor of the fairy ring while Cronan quickly called "dibs" on the chest before I could speak.

"I guess I'll just go make a snowman or something." I grumbled. I had to try to contain my laughter as Cronan forced the chest open only to have it explode in his face. Trapped chests were becoming more and more frequent in dungeons since the thirty second floor and normally we would have had Sky use her Searching skill on it but the girl was currently pre-occupied, plying said skill on the small ring. A small screen popped up in front of her and after she pressed a button a small giggling filled the clearing.

The toadstools glowed brighter and a small fairy fluttered up from underneath one. She stopped her ascent at Sky's eye level and then danced back and forth in front of her, giggling. Cautiously Sky reached out and touched the fairy and in a flash of light the small creature was replaced by a pair of light blue leather boots with dancing fairies embellished along the top and sides.

"Ooooooo!" Sky squealed scooping them up and equipping them immediately. "New shoes!" Cronan took a sip from a healing potion and glared at her as Sky twirled around and admired her new boots.

"Can we move on now," The blacksmith snapped, eliciting a smirk from me. He chose to ignore me, instead focusing on Sky and gesturing insistently at the only other area door. Sky scowled at him but obliged anyway, taking the lead and moving through the exit, Cronan close behind. I smiled down at my sword before following my friends, why had I even bothered drawing it?

As I entered the new area behind my friends my eyes widened and my jaw dropped slightly. The new area was a large clearing with two exits on either side of us and in the center was a huge stone, on which sat a giant monkey.

The strongest creature in the Forest of Wandering was the Drunken Ape large apes with dark fur that carried gourds they could drink from to heal and a club to beat you senseless with. We had been fortunate to only have one run in with these creatures and there had only been two of the eight foot tall monsters.

The ape in the center of the new area resembled a Drunken Ape slightly, in only that it was a simian. This monkey's fur was grey or silver, it had a long Fu Manchu mustache that reached its chest and it held a saké cup in its hand. The creature took an occasional sip from its cup as it watched us cautiously. I focused on the creature and my targeting system brought up its healthbar, above it read Drunken Master Ape.

"That's a long ass name," Cronan commented as he drew his two handed sword and stepped forward. Cronan's foot seemed to cross an invisible line in the proverbial sand and after taking two steps the giant ape leapt from his rock and landed just in front of us…and then stumbled.

"Oh wow," Sky snorted. "Dangerous." She rolled her eyes and drew her curved blade and I brought mine into a skill position. After the monster regained his balance he held up both of his arms in front of him, hands balled into fists except for his index fingers. His outstretched fingers curled in slightly like hooks, where had I seen that stance before? Sky wasted no time in attacking; she darted in attempting to score a quick, clean hit. However the ape was no longer there, or to be more accurate he was no longer standing.

Sky leaped over the fallen monster, growling in frustration that she hadn't gotten to hit it. Her growls turned to a yelp when the ape's foot snapped up catching her legs and sending her ass over tea kettle into the ground. Cronan charged the prone monster, screaming as he ran.

The Drunken Master Ape smashed its fist into the ground propelling himself into the air and over and behind Cronan. Upon landing the beast spun around and lashed out, back-handing the poor warrior and sending him sprawling to the ground. The ape spun around again and almost stumbled, he somehow recovered his balance and the beast brought his arms up into that stance again, then the realization hit me.

"Oh! Guys he's using drunken fist style!" I knew I had seen that from an old Jackie Chan movie or something.

"Fascinating," Sky said through a mouthful of snow.

"Assistance," Cronan raised his hand from his prone position.

"Oh, right. Fighting and stuff." I brought my sword to bear and let a blue glow fall on the blade. I released the charging skill and dashed toward the monster, only to have him stumble away at the very last second. This was going to be a tedious boss battle.

And so for the next thirty minutes we slowly whittled away its health, never scoring a true, distinct hit. We fought with guerilla tactics; dash in, try to hit him, back away. Finally when its health was dangerously low for the creature I gave in to my impatience and I dashed in to try to get the final clean blow. Unfortunately the creature spun around, diverting my attack and smashing me hard in my back. I was sent flying like a rag doll, straight for one of the randomized exits.

"Vlinn!" I heard one of my friends shout. I growled and stabbed my sword into the ground, hoping that would stop my momentum. Unfortunately the only thing that accomplished was ripping my Shamshir from my grasp. I flew through the portal and into the randomized area, without the map I was effectively cut off from my friends.

 _Shit, I lost my sword_ , was my last thought before I hit the ground face first and lost consciousness.

I awoke to snowflakes melting on my face, the small crystals fell through the trees, spiraling and dancing like little fairies. Fairies…Sky?!

"Cronan!" I croaked, forcing my body into a sitting position. The clearing that I was in looked just like the last twenty or so the only difference being the lack of friends. "Damn it all." In front of me floated a loot screen, one of them must have killed the boss. As I looked past the Col gained (a small amount) I couldn't help but feel a small amount outrage. In the loot window sat Saké marinated meat.

I had fought a drunken monkey for half an hour for a piece of meat that wasn't even worth one hundred Col? I angrily closed the screen and then picked myself up, glancing around the clearing again. Unfortunately my friends hadn't magically shown up in the last few seconds, wonderful.

I didn't really have that many options from there, either wait for my friends to find me or try to find them myself. If I left this clearing I would just get lost even worse than I already was and sending my friends a message wasn't an option either, there was no messaging in dungeons. And I certainly couldn't log out, that left the waiting option.

So I plopped myself down in front of a tree, resting my back against its trunk. From there it only took about thirty seconds for the boredom to kick in. I opened up my menu and sifted through my inventory, trashing the useless items and organizing everything I was going to sell. I glanced at the upper right hand corner of my menu, it read; 15:12. After taking a minute to decipher military time (not that hard truthfully) I realized that I had been unconscious for longer than I thought, almost an entire day, it was Christmas eve.

I glanced up at the forest's roof, made of interlocking branches, the sunlight filtered through giving my clearing some light. It had been bright out when I woke up too and I just hadn't noticed, perhaps I got a concussion from my little flight. That, of course, was ridiculous; players couldn't suffer that kind of trauma in Aincrad. My hand still drifted to my head nonetheless.

With a grimace I went back to sorting through my items, hoping to find a match so I could summon a small campfire. This was just wishful thinking, with Cronan's high strength stat he had become a bit of a pack mule, carrying all of our camping supplies in his inventory. I sniffed and rubbed my arms, players might not be able to feel pain, but the system allowed for feeling of discomfort such as hunger or my current enemy, cold.

I sniffed (could I catch a cold?) and continued scrolling through my items; I flicked past Siraya's mask without so much as a second glance. I hadn't worn that accessory since the incident on the twenty eighth floor and I didn't plan to unless needed. I had taken it to Keith to examine it when I had a chance. The mask granted me a bonus to my speed, a decent bonus at that, but I didn't need it right now.

I flicked my hand down, forcing the items to scroll quickly by me. The selector stopped on some Flax seeds, which were items from a repeatable quest that I didn't really care about. Chances were I was just going to give them to Sky for her Medicine making skill. Two slots away from the seeds was my little wooden ocarina.

Smiling, I materialized the instrument in my hand and blew a few notes through it. In real life I couldn't play this thing, although I did know someone who could. Maybe if I ever went home he could teach me how to play one for real. I shook my head to chase away the melancholy and brought the mouthpiece up to my lips. Tis the season, I thought and so I set to work figuring out a few Christmas songs. Hopefully when my friends found me I would know a few and we could go caroling…I hated caroling. Maybe we could just sing by the fire place at the inn.

The sun slowly began to set as I continued playing (I figured out Amazing Grace, not that it's a Christmas carol, but still.) When the sunlight had all but disappeared, I finally noticed the small speck of yellow in the trees in front of me. Two specks actually…no not specks, eyes. I stopped playing and stared into the two yellow eyes that were trained on me. As soon as the music stopped, a low growling filled the clearing.

So I slowly raised my ocarina to my lips and played, softly and slowly. It seemed to please the creature, whatever it was, so I continued to play. Slow and soft, just how I liked to play, the eyes blinked at me and then started to move closer. I almost stopped playing, almost. I had a feeling that stopping would be dangerous for my health.

The feline creature padded its way from between the trees and into the clearing, stopping a few yards away from me. Its dusky orange coat matched the dark sunset that was still fighting the descending darkness. The cat's dark orange coat was peppered with black rosettes, much like a jaguar. As I played I sized up the feline carefully, had I been standing it would have reached the middle of my thigh, it wasn't a large monster but its lithe muscular form looked like it had power.

After a few minutes of my playing the monster dropped his hindquarter to the ground, sitting and watching me with interest. I slowed my song further and glanced above its head at the name underneath its light red color cursor; Starved Wildcat Prowler. _Long ass name_ , I thought, but what was the starved portion about? Before we came into the forest we had studied the known bestiary for the dungeon and I didn't remember seeing this sub-species of Wildcat in the book. We hadn't even seen any of those kinds of monsters as their rarity level was immense.

This one, however, had found me, this starving Wildcat.

 _Starved_ , I corrected myself. Wait, starved…starving? Was it actually hungry? Slowly I lowered my instrument and waited, keeping eye contact with the Wildcat. It growled at me, but it didn't move from its seated position. The growl didn't sound aggressive or threatening, it sounded like he was uncomfortable, almost sad. Starved?

"Are you hungry?" I said softly, I held my hands in my lap and slouched, trying to keep as un-opposing as possible. The feline monster simply blinked at me, swishing its tail absentmindedly. I slowly raised my right hand to open the menu, its eyes followed my hand warily but its muscles remained relaxed. I opened the menu as slowly as I could and sifted through my inventory, I was happy that I had organized my inventory earlier as it only took a second to locate all of my food.

"Now what would you want to eat?" I muttered quietly, the Wildcat tilted its head in response. I clicked my canines together as I sifted through all my food, unfortunately we had only packed vegetable type food, things that would restore our stamina and eliminate our weariness and I doubted the predator would want some grilled squash. The selector fell on the only meat-based food I had, Saké marinated meat.

"Maybe," I muttered as I materialized the meat. As soon as it appeared the clearing was filled with the strong scent of alcohol. The hunk of meat was about as large as my thighs and heavier than I expected. As soon as the food appeared the cat was alert, it angled its ears toward me, and its pupils dilated wildly. "Want some?" I cooed, slowly standing.

As I moved I saw the monsters muscles coil and it lowered its head.

"It's okay," I said quietly, slowly holding the meat out. Ever so cautiously, the Wildcat stood and padded closer to me. I sat as still as I could and the monster carefully took the chunk of meat in its powerful jaws and then bounded away from me. It dropped to its stomach in the middle of the clearing and proceeded to demolish the food.

"Better?" I asked to which it only responded with a slight twitch of its ear. "I'm going to take that as a yes." I found myself smiling, despite the fact that there was a monster less than fifteen feet away and I was weaponless. The feline monster licked its paws clean and then swirled its tongue around it mouth to make sure it didn't miss anything.

It climbed up to its paws and then padded toward me purposefully. _Uh-oh_ … I didn't move, if I ran I had a feeling it would chase me and I wasn't sure I could outrun it in such a dense forest. The cat stopped right in front of me and then sat down, staring at me with what I hoped was interest and not hunger.

I stared at the monster and it simply stared back, tilting its head and licking its chops.

"Please don't eat me," I muttered pathetically, the cat growled lightly and sounded almost like a chuckle. "Nice kitty?" I slowly held out my hand and the cat lightly touched its nose to my outstretched middle finger.

A screen popped to life in front of me, Familiar taming successful.

"What?" The cat growled and pressed its head into the palm of my hand. I cautiously stroked it as another screen popped up asking what I wanted to name it. "Um…" I glanced down at the cat. A name? What kind of name did you give a jungle cat, Bhagira? I almost tapped that in but after a moment I decided against it, I didn't even know what gender it was.

I looked at the top of the screen in front of me, it showed a small image of the cat and what its species name was and at the end was the small symbol for a female.

"Okay, so you're a girl," I said glancing down at the cat, she stared back almost judgmentally and flicked her tail as if to say, _No shit genius._ I ignored my new…friend? What was a good female name for a cat, I sifted through every cat character I knew, Guen was out because she wasn't a panther. And I certainly wasn't going to name her Nala…Sarabi? Both of those sounded awful.

After a moment of thought I tapped out her name on the screen and hit enter, instantly her color cursor changed to green and her species disappeared, replaced with her name; Seravana.

Seravana growled lightly and laid down to clean her paws, evidently pleased with her name. I glanced down at my familiar and couldn't hold back the excitement, I squealed loudly (yes, I squealed) and threw my arms around her muscled neck. She flicked her tail in annoyance but didn't attempt to push me away.

"The fuck did I just hear?" I heard a familiar voice from one of the entrances. "Did someone just kill a pig?" Cronan and Sky stopped short at the sight of Seravana, their hands shot toward their weapons.

"Whoa! Hang on!" I stepped in front of my familiar, holding my hands up defensively. This would probably take some explaining. Before we could say anything the sound of sleigh bells sang through the still air. I looked up at the night sky to see a shooting star, no not a shooting star. It looked like a sleigh that was flying toward the center most area of the forest.

"Did we just see Santa?" Sky asked.


	17. The Grand Library

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _The Grand Library_**

 ** _December 30_** ** _th_** ** _, 2023 10:30 am_**

The three warriors prowled along the darkening cobblestone streets, trying to ignore the stares they got from passerby's. Every so often Vlinn would reach down to touch the head of the wildcat that padded along next to him, just to make sure she was still there. Sky huffed and looked away, _lucky bastard_. Cronan gave Seravana a wide berth, claiming that he did not "trust the damned cat".

The swordswoman rolled her eyes as yet another player gasped and pointed at Seravana, yes we get it, he has a pet, it's not even that cute. As if reading her mind the familiar glanced up at Sky and tilted her head, purring audibly. Sighing, the swordswoman reached down and gave the cat a scratch behind her ears, okay so she was pretty damn cute. But that just meant she wanted one all the more.

"Wish I had a familiar," Sky mumbled.

"Oh give it up already," Cronan groaned, she often forgot about his high Listening skill. "He was lucky, it happens." Vlinn glanced at Cronan, then at Sky, confusion written on his face.

"Were you cursing my name again?"

"No but that was going to be my next sentence." Sky replied. "I was trying to decide between cursing you to the deepest pits of hell or wishing a plague of locusts would descend on you."

"Why not just wish dishonor on him?" Cronan interjected as he sidestepped a busy looking NPC.

"Yes! Dishonor! Dishonor on your whole family!" Sky shouted. "Dishonor on you! Dishonor on your cow!" The swordswoman pointed at Vlinn and his familiar respectively. Seravana growled and flicked her tail, clearly taking offense at being called anything but the dark huntress of the night that Vlinn insisted she was. The only thing Sky had ever seen the cat do at night was sleep.

And snore, System did that cat snore.

"Oh jeez," Vlinn muttered, rolling his eyes and running his hand over his face. "If I could find you a pet I would, just to shut you up."

"Well you will have to content yourself with my complaining." Sky replied, crossing her arms over her chest and smiling victoriously. "So are we close to the library?"

"Should be," the blacksmith replied, opening his mini-map of the Town of beginnings. "A couple more blocks." He confirmed, dismissing the map with a flick of his hand, a small length of bandage trailed after his hand. After the mini-boss fight with the Drunken Master Ape in which Cronan scored the last hit, their loot screens had popped up. She had gotten the apes large sake cup, which was little more than decoration.

Cronan on the other hand, got the last hit bonus item, which was a new pair of hand armor items. The Martial Arts Wraps were the kind of bandaging most martial artists wrapped around their hands in the real world. After a few minutes of debate Cronan traded out his Gem Shell Gauntlets for the wraps, claiming that it was about time he started upgrading.

While the wraps didn't add much in terms of defense, they boosted his Martial Arts skill and gave him a Drunken Fist sword skill. The warrior had since sold his precious Gem Shell Armor for newer, heavy scale armor, which gave him a higher defense than either of his friends Light Metal Armor but also afforded him more maneuverability than his old armor.

Sky sighed and glanced down at her curved sword, all of her equipment was pretty basic, especially for her high combat levels. Cronan had his Martial Arts and now Vlinn had Seravana and not for the first time she found herself wishing she had some kind of special skill or weapon. Sensing her anxiety, Seravana bumped her velvet soft head into the swordswoman's thigh.

Sky smiled and scratched the cat behind her ear again before retreating into her heavy winter cloak. It was still the month of Holly which meant the snow wouldn't be stopping for another few months, Sky shivered. Soon they came upon the promised building, the starting town's Grand Library.

A few days after they had returned from the Forest of Wandering Vlinn convinced them to accompany him in seeking out their info broker, Keith. He hoped that Keith would have some insight into familiars as Vlinn was completely clueless. Although to his credit he had figured out that they needed to eat. The group was terribly disappointed when the info broker told them that very little was known about the small population of players that were Beast Tamers. So he told them to meet him at the Grand Library two days after their visit and he would attempt to dig up as much information as he could.

And so there they were, climbing the snow covered, white marble steps of the second largest building in the beginning city. As they entered the building they were pleased to find that it was heated by several large fireplaces, shelves covered most of the library's floor space there were, however, several large statues and artifacts that were spaced across the library from what she could see.

In the main entrance two spiral staircases lead to the second floor which had more book cases but mostly tables for players to sit and work at. There were very few players there at present, mostly because they didn't find much need for knowledge from books. The Clearers especially had a distinct distaste for the library, books wouldn't help them get home, they thought.

Sky disagreed, knowledge was power and a lot of information on the world, bosses, dungeons and lore was accumulated here, ripe for the picking. Keith sat at one of the wooden tables, awaiting their arrival.

" 'Sup," He greeted, they exchanged pleasantries for a moment before the broker's business side kicked in. "So, I couldn't find too much information on familiars or tamers. Mostly stuff we already knew."

"Anything would be nice," Vlinn said, absentmindedly stroking his familiar's head.

"Well," Keith began. "We know that sometimes monsters will take an interest in players and if that player feeds the monster its favorite food they can tame it. Now, monsters are classified in size categories and only monsters that fit into the Small category can be tamed. After some reading in the general bestiary I found the specific measurement cap for the small category.

Anything shorter than about Vlinn's thigh is considered a small monster, and I notice your cat there just barely meets that requirement. That makes her the largest tamable familiar in the game, which is pretty cool. Since you tamed her, some more information popped up in the bestiary but nothing too informative. You said when you found her she had a strange prefix on her species name?"

"Yes, starved."

"Well that kind of scenario didn't show up in any of the books I read. The most I can figure is that your familiar was an event of some kind and the fact that she seems combat oriented as opposed to support oriented like a normal familiar, just makes that theory all the more plausible. It's a shame we don't know more about the specifics of taming familiars."

As Keith continued to ramble Sky found herself dazing off until the jingling of Col brought her back to reality.

"Thanks for the info Keith." Vlinn said, handing him a small sack of money.

"No problem, you guys need anything else you know where to find me." After a small amount of small talk the info broker went on his way and the trio found themselves alone on the second floor of the library.

"Well now what?" Cronan asked, staring at the chandelier above them.

"We've never been here before," Sky noted distantly.

"Looking around couldn't hurt," Vlinn conceded. "I wouldn't mind trying to find more information on Sera- Where'd she go? Oh shit, no Ser' they don't want to play!" The beast tamer quickly ran after his familiar, who was currently play-stalking a small group of players. Cronan chuckled before turning his gaze toward the NPC librarian.

"I wonder if they have books on smithing materials or skill books like in Skyrim? That would be great!" The warrior jogged down the staircase nearest them, leaving Sky all alone on the second floor. The swordswoman sighed and scanned the library in its entirety, the artifacts and statues looked interesting, so she proceeded down the stairs and toward the museum section.

The artifacts were mostly useless things like vases or broken weapons, items just made to make the museum look the part. But the statues were from the actual lore of the world, now that was something to look at. One statue in particular caught her interest; a marble depiction of a boy resting his hand on a fruit that was twice his size, while a monkey and dog stood at his feet and a game bird perched on his shoulder. The plaque read; "Momotaro, the boy in the peach."

 _Momotaro…peach_ , Sky thought. _That sounds familiar…isn't there a Japanese legend about a peach boy_. Well, she figured there was only one way to find out and so she stalked over to the librarian who then directed her toward the P-section. This was ridiculous, why was she studying when she could be grinding further, even though her one-handed curved skill was already almost maxed, thanks to her secret training area. It had been that morning that she had discovered a new skill in her menu and she was anxious to test it out, all the more reason to be grinding instead of reading.

Most of the books were just nonsense about peach farming, could you even farm in Aincrad? Then again there was supposed to be an almost infinite amount of skills.

No matter how many books she looked through there was nothing about a peach boy. Frustrated, Sky threw the book against the shelf she had just taken it from. The shelf shook slightly and a small book fell to the floor.

After a moment of hesitation Sky picked up the thin booklet, the cover had a picture of a peach but there was no title to be found. She flipped open the booklet and scanned through the few pages rather quickly.

 _Momotaro was a young boy that was born from a giant peach. Sent from heaven to a poor farming couple. The boy grew into a fine young man, with a heart full of justice. When demons began to attack the villages and highways Momotaro could not quiet his outraged heart, so he set out with his sword, granted to him from the peach he had been born from. Along his journey he met a dog, a monkey and a pheasant all of whom followed him and assisted him in his battle against the demon._

 _It is said that the dog, monkey and pheasant remain ever loyal to Momotaro and so they continue to guard their friend's legendary weapon forever._

Sky snorted and tossed the booklet onto a nearby table, she recognized most of the tale, except for the sword part. As far as she knew the old legend never said anything about a sword of any kind, it was probably just something added by the Cardinal system. But if the system had added it…

 _No, there couldn't be a weapon like that here._ She thought to herself, but she found that her feet had carried her toward the statue of Momotaro. Well, now that she was here, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to examine it. Sky's fingers manipulated her menu quickly and as she activated her Search skill her sight was covered in a blue film.

She scanned over the entire statue, letting her fingers trace along the marble, soon her effort was rewarded. Along the side of the base, three rectangles glowed bright yellow in her "searching vision". Sky ended her skill and examined the indentations more closely, there were three in total, all about the size of playing cards and one of the indentations was already filled.

The first one possessed a small stone tablet that fit into the indent perfectly, on the face of it was inscribed a crude drawing of what looked like a dog. Okay, so following gaming logic that meant that there were two more tablets of the monkey and pheasant.

 _Maybe there is something here after all_ , Sky found herself smiling, it was always fun discovering new items. _Okay, now if I were a stone tablet where would I hide?_

After another check in with the virtual librarian Sky found herself wandering about the "M" section, scanning the shelves. There was nothing on monkeys, although she did find one entitled "Monks: Martial Arts and the Path of Peace." Cronan might find that interesting, she pulled the book off of the shelf and continued down the rows.

At the end she found the warrior-blacksmith sitting at a table, flipping through a book, looking less than pleased.

"Bad read?" Sky asked, gently laying the book on the table.

"I was hoping it would some kind of monkey style sword skill in it." Cronan snorted, and then paused, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "Why are they called sword skills? Some people use maces or axes and I use my fists more than I use my sword…huh."

"Right," Sky muttered, rolling her eyes. "Anyway I'll trade you." She pushed her book toward him and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"You want a book on monkeys?"

"Just one in particular," She muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing, just give me the book." Cronan shrugged and slid the book on monkeys over to her before pouring over his new reading material. Sky seated herself at a secluded table before activating her Search skill and examining the book. A golden glow caught her eye in the very center of the book, when she flipped toward the page the book revealed a rectangle cut in the last few hundred pages. Nestled in the indentation was the stone monkey tablet.

"Score!" The swordswoman smiled to herself and dropped the tablet into her pouch. Another trip to the librarian and Sky was bouncing off toward the "P" section of the library. Thankfully the book she was looking for was much easier to find considering it was the only one with pheasant in the title.

Sky took her book, "Un-pheasant Endings" and sat down, finding the tablet in a very similar position as the monkey tablet. She didn't even bother putting the book away as she raced back to the statue, tablets in hand and a smile plastered to her face. Her fingers probed the base of the statue, searching for the indents in the marble.

Once she found them she pressed the tablets into place, first the monkey and then the pheasant. At first nothing happened and Sky's smile dropped from her face. Why was nothing happening? Had she done something wrong, placed the tablets in the wrong spots perhaps?

And then the statue rumbled. The statues of the animals around Momotaro slowly moved from their stone position, each step giving them more fluidity and shedding their stone appearance.

The three animals stood before her, a black dog that was as high as her waist, a monkey that matched her height and the pheasant that was as tall as the dog but much more brightly colored.

"You have disturbed the tomb of Momotaro," The dog rumbled. "We are his protectors in the afterlife and we do not suffer those who would disturb him." Sky focused on the dog as he spoke, bringing up its color cursor and name, Momotaro's Dog; a quick sweep with her eyes told her that the other two animals were appropriately named.

The monkey leapt toward her just as she drew her curved sword, Sky flipped sideways leaving the monkey to crash into the slippery marble floor. The pheasant flew at her striking with its spurs and she barely had time to raise her sword to parry them aside.

And then the dog was there charging at her, teeth bared, Sky leapt over him only to have to parry a strike from the monkey as soon as her foot touched the floor. And so she spent the next few minutes nimbly evading attacks from all sides. Her chance to counter attack finally came when a blow from the monkey slammed into the dog as she rolled away from it.

The dogs yelp of pain abruptly turned into a howl of rage as it charged toward its comrade, snapping its teeth. Sky turned around to find a set up spurs flying toward her; the swordswoman threw herself into a roll. Her sword sliced into the bird's underside as she came out of the roll causing the pheasant to squawk in pain and land awkwardly.

Sky rushed her enemy just as it was turning around and before the pheasant could move further it found itself without a right wing. It screeched in pain until Sky's sword found its neck. As the pheasant burst into data fragments, the woman turned back toward her other two opponents. They were still in battle with themselves, which left quite the opening for her.

She sprinted toward the two fighting creatures and leaped over them, somersaulting midair. She brought her sword down the monkey's back and it too burst into data. This left only the dog who had been mid leap when the monkey died.

"Shit!" Sky threw herself backwards to the ground, smacking her head hard on the marble. Fortunately she retained the state of mind to plunger her sword into the dog's stomach as it soared over her. With a yelp of pain the dog too broke apart into data, leaving Sky alone in the artifact section yet again. She blew out a pent up breath and let her curved sword drop to the floor. "Damn, that was tough."

She slowly picked herself up and shuffled tiredly over to the statue of Momotaro, not bothering to collect her sword from the floor. The statue, now bereft of the animals had a slight yellow glow that pulsed along the statue and then coalesced at the center of the fruit, a peach, she now knew. Sky pressed her hand against the peach at the point where the glow came together. The peach split neatly down the middle and swung open, revealing a katana resting in the center.

Sky gently picked the weapon up and tapped on it, revealing its information.

"Momo no hana" She read, smiling. She opened her menu and equipped the skill that she had found in her menu that morning, the weapon skill Katana. An extra skill that only ten people in all of Aincrad possessed and she was one of them. A few minutes later she rejoined her friends, her new katana lying across her back.

"Nice sword!" Cronan said, eye the blade appreciatively. "Where'd you get that?"

"Long story."


	18. Be Mine?

**_a/n:_ Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties. Warning, bull crap romance nonsense ahead.**

 ** _Be Mine?_**

 ** _February 13_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 3:25 pm_**

The warrior pulled his brown muffler tighter around his neck, hoping to ward off the last bit of cold that was still clinging to Aincrad. The weather was controlled by the System, so the change should have been damn near instantaneous but apparently the System had a terrible sense of humor. Next to him Sky huddled even further into her cloak, attempting to hide from chill, meanwhile Vlinn contented himself to just wrap his fingers into his cat's fur.

Bloody cat. All that thing did was stare at him, peered into his soul more like. Damn thing creeped him out but Vlinn insisted she was perfectly harmless so long as he kept her fed. So what, she misses a meal and goes on a rampage? Didn't seem very harmless to him, the warrior shuddered and turned his gaze back to the slush spattered cobblestone streets.

For the past several months they had few jobs from the Army, as the guild had drawn even deeper into seclusion. After their huge loss they had been having trouble picking themselves back up again, which meant fewer contracts for them which equated to much less money. So they had resorted to dungeon diving, a pastime they normally tried to avoid unless they were also getting paid for it.

But desperate times call for desperate measures and it never hurt that they gain a level or two. Unfortunately it appeared that the other two had leapt far above him in the combat aspect. Sky was like a hurricane, ripping through enemies with her katana and then there was Vlinn and his beast. The two fought in sync, he never heard Vlinn utter a word to it in combat but they always seemed to complement each other's movements, whenever Vlinn was not there, Seravana was.

Cronan growled to himself, when had he become the weak link? He had always been the backbone of the party since the first day. That would need to change soon.

"Bull shit," He mumbled.

"What is?" Sky said, her voice muffled by her thick scarf. She glanced up at the warrior-blacksmith curiously.

"This snow," He said, recovering quickly. "It's long past time to warm up!"

"It's still technically winter," Vlinn replied, fog materialized in front of his mouth with each word. "It will probably hold out for another month." Cronan waved away the meaningless logic, cold was cold and he didn't like it. It was February, the month of Lilac, one day before Valentine's Day as Sky like to keep pointing out.

"It's nice here," Sky said, glancing at the buildings lining the street. They were on the Forty ninth floor, in the main city Myujen, a medium sized urban like city.

"It reminds me of London during the industrial revolution." Vlinn commented staring at the large brick-laid church.

"And how would you know what that looked like?" Sky snorted, glancing skeptically at him.

"Fable three." Cronan and Sky chuckled, causing Vlinn to grin, Seravana simple glanced at her master before sneezing her disapproval at the ridiculousness that _were_ players. "So where are we heading exactly oh master of the map?" Vlinn grinned at Cronan, gesturing for him to open the mini map. The warrior waved at him to be patient and flicked his finger down, opening his menu.

After opening the map and orienting their position he informed his friends that their destination was right around the corner. True to his word, they turned right at the next street and their desired building was the first one there. The building like all of the others was a mixture of brownstone and brick with arches acting as support columns.

A piece of parchment was nailed on the right side of the large supportive arch. Vlinn tapped on the paper and a small menu sprang to life that read: _Contact Realtor?_ He tapped _yes_ and the menu dissolved only to be replaced with a pudgy NPC wearing the aristocratic style of clothing favored in the early nineteen hundreds by Londoners. Cronan clapped his hands together loudly, grinning broadly.

"This man," He said, pointing at the NPC. "This man. This man has style." Sky giggled at him while Vlinn simply rolled his eyes.

"Good evening gentlemen and lady," The NPC said with a small bow. "It is my pleasure to show you through this humble maisonette. If you will follow me please?" He turned and stepped heavily up the stairs and paused to open the door, beckoning them through. The man gave a quick tour of the two story building that already came pre-furnished with a fire place, simple living room and bed room furnishings and a small kitchen. The bedrooms and small bath resided on the top floor while the kitchen, living room entry room and a large empty room sat on the ground floor. "Is this home to your liking? With it furnished as such it costs two million, three hundred thousand Col."

"What do you guys think?" Vlinn asked, turning to his friends.

"I like it," Cronan said nodding his head appreciatively.

"Yeah," Sky nodded her head in agreement. "And we should have just enough if we pool everything we saved up, then there is all the rare items we have to sell still so that should be able to upgrade the furniture. If we can find the right guy-"

"Keith," Vlinn interrupted.

"Keith." Cronan agreed.

"Keith…" Sky continued, annoyance creeping into her voice. "Anyway, yeah we can do it without going completely broke."

"Alright," Vlinn said holding his hand out to the NPC. "Deal." The man grasped his hand and then produced a piece of parchment in his other hand.

"Very good," He said, retrieving his hand from Vlinn's grasp and adjusting his monocle. "Now if all contract holders could please leave their fingerprint on this contract then the house will be yours." Vlinn took the paper and pressed his thumb onto it, when he lifted it he left a black fingerprint. The paper passed between the others and then was returned to the NPC.

Once the paper was firmly in the man's grasp it disappeared only to be replaced with three keys.

"Enjoy sirs," The NPC said handing the keys to Vlinn before disappearing himself. Grinning, the beast-tamer handed out the keys to his friends before re-entering the house, _their_ house. Cronan materialized all of the food and cooking apparatus he was carrying and set it on their small wooden counter in the kitchen. The party set to putting the appropriate items into either the refrigerator or the cupboards before going up the steps to decide who got what room.

The choice wasn't very difficult, they were all the same size, they just pointed in different directions at the end of the hallway. Cronan's room's window pointed out toward the large church in the city, which, he supposed, wasn't such a bad view. After they had settled in, Sky set to cooking dinner and Vlinn produced his ocarina while Cronan set the fire place roaring. Any chill that was in the house was soon burned away, even more so after their hot meal.

It wasn't long until the first one of them drudged off to bed and soon after the other two followed. After he was settled in bed Cronan found that sleep was not something so easily achieved. His mind was running amok with thoughts of events that had transpired only a day before, when he had went to visit his friend Lisbeth.

It had been a simple visit, just to check in and see how she was doing with her new shop. He had been shocked to find her wearing a light red maid's uniform, which was far from how she liked dressing. He was even more surprised to see her pink hair, Liz had explained that a friend of hers had insisted this new look would attract customers and she had been right.

"I thought you were pretty before," He had muttered before that filter in his brain could stop him. Cronan's eyes had widened upon realizing what had just escaped his mouth and a slight blush had colored Liz's cheeks.

Oh System why had he said that? Sure he really thought she was pretty, but he had not needed to _say that_! Cronan smashed his head off of his pillow, how stupid! He would not be surprised if she never wanted to talk to him again. That would suck…a lot. He found there was a slight flutter in his stomach whenever he thought about the small blacksmith.

The warrior growled and pressed his pillow over his face, what the hell was he going to do? Apologize? Apologize for what, calling her pretty? Somehow he felt like that would just make things worse. So what other options did that leave?

Maybe he should just tell her how he felt… That was a terrible idea; Cronan rolled onto his stomach and buried himself further into his pillow. He really did like her, she was pretty, kind and best of all seemed to enjoy hanging around him. He should just wife that shit!

Easier said than done of course, confessing to girls was not exactly his strong suit or anyone's for that matter. At least he was not alone in that aspect, plenty of people had trouble talking to people they liked. The warrior groaned, what should he do!? Just to accent his irritated state, Cronan's alarm went off, opening a menu in front of his face and screaming at him.

The warrior grumpily swatted at the screen, dismissing it.

"Damn thing," He mumbled, rolling out of bed and equipping his armor and sword. Maybe breakfast would help clear his head, he thought as he opened the door to the hallway. A loud wail of terror filled the house as Cronan opened the door and came face to face with Seravana. "Sonuvabitchwhatthehellholyfuck!" Laughter erupted from the stair case and Vlinn slowly climbed to the top, holding his ribs as he tried to catch his breath.

"You should have seen your face!" The red-armored player breathed. "Oh System, I can't breathe!" Her job done, the familiar padded over to her master, growling in hunger. Still laughing, Vlinn patted the cat on her head and lead the way down the stairs, familiar and grumpy roommate in tow.

Breakfast was already set on the table and Sky was seated, reading the newspaper. As the other two players sat down, Vlinn materialized a slab of meat and dropped it to the floor. After an investigative sniff Seravana ripped into the food with gusto. Cronan cringed and turned his gaze onto his breakfast, simple eggs. He took a few hesitant bites and found that he had no appetite.

"You okay?" Vlinn asked through a mouthful of eggs. Sky looked up from her paper, concern shining in her eyes for a moment.

"Is everything alright?" Cronan tried to wave their questions away but Vlinn wouldn't have that.

"Did you have a bad dream?" He pressed. "Or did your favorite piece of armor break? Maybe you lost an important kind of steel? Is it women troubles?" Cronan choked on the last one and looked away, hoping not to draw attention to it.

"Oh my gosh, you like a girl!" Sky squealed, tossing her paper to the side, giving the warrior-blacksmith all of her attention. "Who is it? Are you dating? What's she like? Can we meet her?"

"Strange," Vlinn said, retrieving her paper and scanning the headlines. "I was almost certain you would be jealous." The swordswoman glared at him scathingly but he shrugged it away. "So what's the problem then?"

"Nothing." Cronan growled, shoving a forkful of egg into his mouth.

"Really? Because you're starting to bend the fork." Cronan looked down and sure enough the fork had acquired a slight curve, he groaned in exasperation.

"I don't know how to tell her." The warrior slumped onto the table and shoved his plate aside.

"Tell who?" Sky asked insistently, Cronan simply looked away and when Sky went to press further Vlinn gestured for her to remain quiet. "Why?" She pouted, glaring at Vlinn.

"It's not important who." The beast tamer shrugged. "Now why don't you tell us the problem?" He gestured toward Cronan.

"I like her, but I can't figure out how to tell her. Or if I even should."

"It's Valentine's day!" Sky said insistently.

"She's right, today is the perfect day to confess. Plus there is a special event item for today, you could always give it to her as a gift."

"Event item?"

"Yes!" Sky nodded excitedly. "It's supposed to be beautiful, to reflect the holiday. It's on the Hill of Memories on the forty seventh floor." Cronan stroked his chin thoughtfully, perhaps a present would be just the thing he needed to at least apologize and if it went further…well he would not complain.

"Alright," He said standing up. "I'll do it!"

"Yeah!" Vlinn crowed, pumping his fist into the air. "It's be a man time!"

"Yeah!" Sky echoed, copying Vlinn's movement. Cronan rushed out the door of their new house without a second thought, if he did not act now he would probably chicken out and this was something that needed to get done! The two players watched the door for a time before returning to breakfast.

"So what's the plan for today?" Vlinn asked, reaching down to pet his familiar.

"Furniture shopping!" The swordswoman practically sang and Vlinn felt his heart sink.

"Maybe I should go help Cronan out, there could be a dangerous boss-" As he began to rise he felt a strong grip on his shoulder.

"Shopping trip," Sky hissed, staring at him insidiously.

"Oh System no…"

The Hill of Memories was absolutely covered in flowers of every color and type. It would have been beautiful if not for the large plant monster that was currently trying to kill him. The Possessed Rose Bush swung its thick, thorn covered whip at Cronan, hitting him on the shoulder and wrapping itself around his arm, digging its thorns into his flesh which caused slow continuous damage.

Cronan growled and grasped the vine, jerking it back and tearing it off of the main plant. The demonic bush screeched in pain and backed away slightly but Cronan leaped forward swinging his massive two-handed sword at it.

The warrior had found the monster at the end of a slightly beaten path that had taken him away from the main road of the area and deep into the field of flowers itself. The quest itself he had acquired in Floria, the main city of that floor. Well, he had accepted the quest and followed that damn path and now there he was. In a fight with foliage.

His weapon easily sliced through the bush's main body and after a final demonic screech the monster burst apart into fragments and drifted off into the sky. Cronan blew out a sigh of relief as he shoved his blade back into its scabbard. A bright sparkle caught his eye from the area where the monster had just died. His quest marker was floating above the ground and beneath it sat a rose.

Not a simple rose, one made completely of jewels. Its stem and single leaf were made of emerald, its thorns of jet. And it's beautiful red petals were rubies crafted to perfect replication.

"Wow, that is beautiful." Cronan whistled in appreciation and he picked it up. Maybe she would like this after all, he thought. He smiled and placed the "flower" into his inventory before stalking back down the path that eventually lead him onto the main road out of the Hill of Memories and into Floria.

The city teemed with life today, mostly male and female players on dates, the city was certainly beautiful and it would make the perfect place for such activities. The warrior found himself smiling as he approached the teleport gate.

"Teleport! Lindas!" Instantly he was surrounded by bright white light which then faded seconds later to reveal an entirely new environment. Lindas was a medieval, rural town comprised of many player owned shops and canals. The buildings possessed water wheels which made them desirable for bakers and blacksmiths alike.

But there was only one blacksmith on Cronan's mind and he made a beeline straight for her shop.

"Hello!" Liz greeted as the bell attached to her shops door rang. "How can I help- oh, Cronan?"

"Hey," The warrior said lamely.

"Hi…"

"Listen, about the other day, I wanted to apologize."

"You really don't need to."

"Well I am," Cronan continued. "I didn't mean to call you pretty." Seeing his friend visibly deflate he continued. "I should have called you beautiful. Because you are." Lisbeth's cheeks flared crimson.

"Cronan!" The larger warrior held up his hand, cutting her off.

"I think I like you. More than what our current relationship is. But I don't know how to express that, so here." He produced the flower and gently handed it to her. "It's Valentine's day…so um…will you be my valentine?"

"I hate life," Cronan groaned later that night, as he smashed his head into the bar of the tavern located nearest their house.

"Was it really that bad?" Sky grimaced.

"Not as bad as my day," Vlinn grumbled, tossing back another drink, ignoring the daggers that were being glared at him.

"She said that we were friends that that was what she thought of us as, even if we were close. She said she would be happier than I could imagine to be my valentine…but as my friend."

"Well that's not so bad," Sky said soothingly, rubbing his back.

"It's kind of bad," The beast tamer mumbled over the rim of his pint. Sky grabbed a hold of his collar and pulled him close to her, leaving their face only a few inches apart.

"Say something helpful or I swear to the System I will cut off every limb that you hold dear." Vlinn opened his mouth with the intention of saying something snarky but Sky's fierce glare warned him otherwise.

"Cronan," He sighed. "Can I ask you something?" The warrior groaned in response. "I'll take that as a yes, would you rather she was out of your life forever? Or do you enjoy being her friend?" Cronan sat in silence for a moment.

"I like being her friend…"

"And do you really want to complicate that with a relationship that might only be based on slight affection?"

"I guess not…"

"Exactly, you can still love your friends." Cronan looked at the beast tamer suspiciously.

"When did you get so smart about this stuff?"

"I'm a lover not a fighter," He responded with a shrug.

"That explains why we always have to save your ass." Sky snorted. Vlinn replied with a very rude hand gesture and Cronan watched his friends, a smile creeping onto his lips.

"I suppose you're right," The warrior said. "And I think I have a gift in mind that might make this right."

"That might have to wait a few hours," Vlinn said, pointing behind the warrior. "That girl there has been ogling you for a couple minutes now." Cronan turned to see a slight girl with a rapier belted to her slim waist, upon making eye contact she blushed slightly but smiled at him.

Cronan stood up and made his way over to the girl, a grin plastered to his face.

"Well he got over that fast," Sky grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Jealous?"

"As if!"

"Well it certainly looks like- What. The. Fuck?" Vlinn's jaw dropped as the girl took Cronan's hand and lead him up the taverns stairs.

"Where are they going?" Sky asked, tilting her head slightly.

"I'm assuming up to her room…"

"Oh…"

"I have never been so proud of him." Vlinn said wiping away an imaginary tear.

Later that night Cronan would set to work on the forge that his friends had bought that now occupied their extra room. The next day he would give Liz a One-handed War Hammer, a gift between close friends and she would use it until her last days in Aincrad.


	19. Seravana's Day Out

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Seravana's Day Out_**

 ** _March 12_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 9:00 am_**

Sunlight filtered through the curtains of the small room, revealing dancing and spiraling dust particles. The dusky orange beast halfheartedly swiped at some of the little flecks that had invaded her warm, square sunbeam. Seravana opened her huge jaws letting out a silent yawn and then flicked her tail to show her displeasure at the unwelcome dust.

Her ear flicked to the left to take in the ruffling sound coming from the corner of the room. The beast licked her chops and then her paw, not bothering to examine her master who was still rolling under the sheets trying to stay asleep. Unfortunately the cat had grown bored of this room, so with a great huff she picked herself up and sauntered over to her master's bed.

She hopped up onto it and heard a groan as she placed one of her large paws on the boy's diaphragm. She issued a low growl, a warning for the player to awaken, he responded with a growl of his own. With a scowl that only a cat could manage she raised her paw and then let it drop on top of his head.

 _Time to get up small one, this one hungers for meat._

Vlinn swatted at the heavy paw and then rolled over, pulling the covers over his head further. Seravana growled as she hopped down from the bed, very well, if he wasn't going to feed her she would just find her own meal. The cat stalked over to the door, she had found that if she touched her nose to the doorknob the contraption would open itself for her and so she did just that.

In the hallway she was approaching the stair well when the door on the far end opened and the tall warrior stepped through. He jumped at the sight of the great cat, _As he should_ , and then growled in annoyance.

"Damn it Vlinn! Stop doing that!" When her master did not show himself he instead turned his gaze to the huntress. "I'm watching you cat." He said, pointing two fingers at his eyes and then at her.

 _As you wish tall one._ Seravana snorted and flicked her tail before stalking down the stairs and into the kitchen. Smaller one was standing at the counter finishing the morning meal as the cat prowled in, stopping near her to nudge her head into the player's leg.

"Good morning Sera," The player said bending slightly to pat the cat on her head. "Ready for breakfast?" Seravana growled lightly, licking her maw, she was always ready for breakfast. Sky smiled, summoned a large chunk of meat from her inventory and proceeded to chop it into smaller portions.

 _It doesn't have to look pretty smaller one; it just needs to be meat._ The cat flicked her tail impatiently. _Although bloody would be a nice change._

"Here you go," The girl said setting down a bowl of diced meat in front of the huntress. Sera dove in without a second thought and Sky was forced to dodge as chunks of meat began to fly. One in particular covered a good deal of distance, smacking Cronan in the face as he walked into the kitchen.

"Gross," He muttered, wiping the meat off. "She's disgusting."

"She is not!" Sky said, to which Seravana growled in agreement.

 _I am beautiful and dangerous Tall one._

"Where's Vlinn, shouldn't his creature be with him?" The warrior asked as he sat himself down at their wooden table.

"He was out late last night hunting Drunken Ape's, Sera likes their meat the best."

 _And what a hunt it was!_ The cat's tail curled up at the memory of sinking her fangs into those irritating beasts.

"I didn't think familiars could leave their masters side," Cronan muttered taking a sip of the tea that Sky placed in front of him.

"Well when we meet an expert on beast taming we'll ask him or her." The swordswoman said lightly, picking up two plates of eggs and bacon. Cronan snorted as he too dug into his breakfast. With the swordswoman next to him eating with the same vigor, it was a habit that they must have developed from watching the cat eat.

The beast in question licked her jowls clean after she had finished her bowl and with a dismissive flick of her tail left the players in the kitchen to their own devices. She pawed open Vlinn's door and peeked in to find her master still asleep. The beast snorted in disdain and made her way back downstairs.

She had better things to do than wait around for him to finally fall out of bed. Seravana looked into the kitchen to find the other two players chatting still; quietly the cat made her way to the front door and lightly touched her nose to the door knob.

And with that she was out and about among the players of floor forty nine.

The players stared at the cat as she prowled through the streets; one drew his sword and moved to attack the feline. Another player grabbed his arm and pointed at the very small light green indicator diamond that floated above the cat. Seravana ignored all of the confused player's stares, opting instead to stick her head into a short jar.

The crowd watched as she investigated the insides for a moment before attempting to pull out her head…and failing. She swung her head violently from side to side and pawed at the jar. When that didn't work she dropped to her side and pressed all four paws to the jar, attempting to push it off. The container didn't budge, finally Seravana flopped onto her back and lay there, defeated, mewling sadly.

"Aw," One girl said sadly, she tugged on one of her friends sleeves. "Go help it!"

"That thing? Are you kidding me? It might kill me!" Another of their party gave him a push and after another moment of grumbling he moved cautiously toward the depressed feline.

"I wonder why that thing was so interested in the jar." The girl from before said as she watched her friend tug on the jar, with a strong jerk the container popped off of Seravana's head, leaving a satisfied cat. The crowd, or rather the majority, chuckled as the wildcat licked honey off of her whiskers.

Seravana stared at the players, her head cocked to the side as she examined them. None of them moved toward her and they didn't have a threatening stance. The huntress rolled onto her stomach and licked her maw before standing up and making her way toward the players.

"It's so cute," The female player cooed as the cat sniffed them curiously, at this the cat growled lightly and whipped her tail about in displeasure.

 _I am deadly, player._

"I don't think it liked being called that." One of the girl's friends said, edging away from the beast.

"Um," The girl stammered. "I meant to say you were…elegant?" Seravana tilted her head to the side and her tail curled inward, that was a name she could deal with. The cat paced around the girl in a circle, sizing her up. The player stood rigid, afraid to upset the cat in anyway, lest it decide that she was snack. Seravana inhaled deeply as she circled the player; there was something about her smell that the cat relished, something familiar.

The girl reminded her of…of… Seravana growled as pain drilled through her head. The surrounding players backed up nervously as the feral sound escaped the beast's throat. But the player stooped down to Sera and stroked her head gently. The girl cooed softly, recognizing the beasts pain, Sera pressed her head into the girl's hand, growling lightly. Eventually the pain subsided and the great cat glanced up at the player's face, she reminded the cat of a little girl that she once knew.

Seravana flicked her tail dismissively, lest the memory cause her more pain.

"Let's go finish our errands then," The player said to her party, she then looked back down at the cat. "Would you like to come with us?" Sera sneezed in response, causing the girl to giggle.

"I think that means yes." Offered the player that had pulled the jar of off Sera's head, with that the party went about their day. They stopped at various vendors in the small bazaar that only set up shop on the forty ninth floor twice a year. As they made their way around the tents they were escorted by the dusky orange cat, which gave them plenty of room as the crowd gave the beast a wide berth. One of the players bought a bone from a vendor that sold miscellaneous items and tossed it the cat, who simply looked at it curiously.

"You're supposed to eat it," The player said as Sera swatted playfully at it.

"That would be dogs, idiot." One of the party members said, shaking his head. At this Sera grasped the bone in her powerful jaws and then growled at the boy spitefully. The party laughed as they continued along their way, watching as the cat leaped atop the tents and continued her adventure from there.

From her new vantage point Seravana spied a familiar face shopping at a vendors stall on the other side of her new friends. Stealthily she moved to the edge of the cloth roof and lowered her belly closer to it. Beneath her, Sky scrolled through the food vendor's inventory, trying to find something new for dinner. Sera's hindquarters wiggled back and forth as she readied herself to pounce.

The cat swiped playfully at Sky's ponytail as the player walked away, smiling at the new food in her inventory. Upon hearing her new friends laughing Sera spun around and bounded across the fabric roof after them. The player that had bought her the bone tossed a piece of meat up to her, which she caught in a loud snap of her jaws, her tail swishing in pleasure.

She followed the party around for the rest of the day, until the sun began to set, the orange in the darkening sky beginning to match her soft fur. The clock tower's bell tolled five times and Sera turned her head toward her master's home. With a light growl she began to trot home, thoughts of dinner spinning through her mind.

"Are you leaving?" The cat paused and turned her head back towards the player that had been kind to her. "Well today was fun, maybe we can play again." The girl bent down and rubbed her hand across the beast's head. Sera remembered the little girl again, the one that she used to live with, the one that had taken care of her.

"Let's go!" One of the male players called, the girl scratched the cat's head one last time and then took off after her party. Seravana watched them leave, holding onto the few memories of that little girl. There had also been a boy that lived with them, one that picked her up roughly, put her in positions she hadn't liked. Pain shot through her head again, causing her to growl but she held tightly onto the memories for a moment.

There had been a helmet that the boy was holding as he was smirking at her.

She let go as the pain grew to be too much and her legs gave out from under her. The cat lay on the cobble stone street, holding her paws on top of her head for what felt like hours, until the pain subsided. Slowly the huntress picked herself back up and slowly made her way home, her tail flicking violently at the memory of the pain.

She touched her nose to the doorknob of the house's large door and let herself in quietly, kicking the door shut with her back leg. The cat's nostrils were assailed with pleasant scents floating from the kitchen, the smells tempted her towards the room and she happily obliged.

"Hey Sera," Sky greeted, setting her bowl down, already filled with meat. Seravana flicked her tail in thanks as she gulped down her meal. Cronan sat at the table digging into his own dinner and a yawn announced the arrival of her master.

"Morning," He muttered.

"It's night." The swordsman corrected, as the beast tamer sat down, Sky dropped a plate in front of him and then sat herself down. The cat's master glanced at his familiar suspiciously over his dinner.

"How much has she eaten today?" He asked between bites.

"Twice."

"She only needs one meal Sky, she's going to get fat." Seravana growled at this and glared at her master. "You will too! Remember how skinny you were when I first got you."

The cat flicked her tail and snorted, prompting Vlinn to roll his eyes.

"That was not a _onetime thing_ ; I can already see you getting a belly."

"Can you please not talk to your demon at the table," Cronan said, sipping his tea loudly. "It's not like she understands you."

"She does so," Her master said defensively. "It's an actual skill, Familiar Communication." Sera snorted in agreement. The warrior blacksmith rolled his eyes and threw back the last dregs of his drink.

After dinner the three retired to their living room, watching all of the crystal recordings in the newspaper. Afterwards Cronan examined their equipment for damage or additional upgrade slots, Vlinn blew on his ocarina for Sera as she napped, using his feet as a pillow.

Soon they each retired to their rooms and as her master climbed into bed she leapt up next to him waiting for him to snuggle under his covers. After he was comfy she nuzzled into his armpit and blew out a contented breath, thinking about the memories that the player had dredged up.

"Goodnight Sera." Her master said fondly, stroking her head. The cat curled her tail on contentment and nuzzled in closer. As far as players went this one wasn't too bad.


	20. Fear and Fist

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Fear and Fist_**

 ** _March 22_** ** _nd_** ** _, 2024 8:12 pm_**

 ****Cronan cursed loudly as another branch smacked into his face, stupid trees. His breathing came shallowly and in spurts as he ran through the woods as fast as his armor burdened body would allow him. The Sunshine Forest was a lot less inviting once the sun had begun to set, normally the twentieth floor's sub-dungeon was populated with large insect like creatures, however at dusk the monsters changed to were-wolves, giant bats and other beasts of that nature.

Why the dungeon of the twentieth floor had such dangerous programming was beyond Cronan but at the moment he had more pressing matters to deal with. The warrior ducked under a particularly thick branch, hoping it would slow his pursuer down. He knew it wouldn't.

The crescent moon shone its scant light through the sparse canopy above, providing the forest with a monochrome filter. The path that Cronan was currently racing down abruptly opened up into a clearing in front of him. Exhausted, the warrior came to a stop, huffing audibly. Stopping was a bad idea, he knew that but his body could only endure so much. If he shed his armor he could move faster but armor or not it was only a matter of time before that thing caught up to him. And when it did he would need whatever protection he could muster.

Behind him a light breeze carried a whisper to his ears. The sound of soft static was slowly growing loudly. His eyes widened and he took off across the small meadow-like clearing, sucking in air as fast as could. Cronan darted into the nearest path, gasping with every step, he had stopped checking his map a long time ago and by now he was probably in the deepest part of the Sunshine Forest.

Ahead of him a soft, light green glow signaled the perimeter of a safe area.

"Oh thank the System!" The blacksmith gasped, putting on another burst of speed. If he could reach it he would be safe. As his foot crossed the green glowing line the transparent wall gave way to his heavy armor. Cronan stumbled slightly as he finally stopped running and doubled over taking as deep of breaths as his lungs would let him.

That was when the static drifted into his ears, even louder than the last time. With a less than heroic scream the warrior threw himself into a forward roll, spinning around and drawing his new two-handed sword as he came out of it. He glanced at the blade; it was shaking violently, as was the rest of him. Eyes wide and breathing shallow; the warrior wondered how it had ended up like this.

The screaming of his alarm brought the warrior to life, he cracked open one bloodshot eye and tiredly swiped his hand at the translucent screen floating above him. With the alarm silenced he slowly sat up, stretching and yawning loudly, why had he set an alarm?

The blacksmith had been up into the early hours of the morning, crafting a new two-handed sword (that currently sat in the corner of his Spartan room) as a birthday present to himself. He couldn't really afford one but a lot of suppliers had cut him deals on the materials once he told them what today was.

The warrior-blacksmith found himself grinning at the prospect of the rest of the day. In the past two years they had forgone celebrating anything for lack of funds or leisure time. When you lived in a world with so many potential dangers you learned to rely on necessity and to push aside anything that did not have a direct impact on whether you lived or died. But this year was different, they had already celebrated Christmas and that was before they had a house. This was the safest they had ever been or possibly would be until the game was cleared.

This year they could finally relax a little, let their blades rest in their scabbards for a time. This year maybe they could celebrate their birthdays.

As usual when he opened the door to his room he was greeted by the feline shape of Vlinn's familiar but today Cronan held in his cry of surprise, today was _his_ day. Seravana tilted her head at him, confused. Normally the tall one would have jumped in fright, the cat growled in displeasure and stalked downstairs. The warrior followed, grinning in pleasure, today was already starting out great.

Vlinn and Sky were already seated at the kitchen table, conversing quietly.

"Good morning!" Cronan said as he walked, still smiling. He was answered with grunts of disproval, neither of his friends were morning people; normally he wasn't either but today was different. "Where's breakfast?" Sky scowled and pointed at the stove behind him, with a shrug the warrior went about transferring the eggs onto a plate.

Vlinn leafed through the newspaper as Sky was flicking through her menu, answering messages and organizing her inventory. Cronan sat down with a disgruntled sigh, next to Vlinn's feet Sera mimicked the noise. Scowling, the warrior dug into his breakfast, looks like they weren't celebrating birthdays this year either.

He was a little disappointed but it was just like any other year, he would just shrug and move on.

"Anything going on today," Sky glanced over at Vlinn who gave a non-committal grunt and flipped the page of the paper. Cronan saw a chance to at least make the day a little fun.

"Well, I was thinking about going questing," The warrior said between mouthfuls. "Why don't you guys come with me, we could make a day out of it."

"I'm busy," The beast tamer mumbled, setting the paper aside and reaching down to scratch his cat. "I have some quests of my own that I need to finish up."

"I could help," Cronan offered hopefully.

"No thanks." Shot down.

"Sky?" The swordswoman hummed to herself for a minute, seemingly mulling the offer over.

"No, I don't really feel like hanging out today." She finally said from behind her coffee mug. Shot down again, ouch.

"Okay," He muttered dejectedly.

"Why don't you go hang out with your blacksmith friend?" Vlinn waved his hand dismissively, as if he wanted his friend to just leave.

"Maybe I will." The warrior grumbled, storming out of the room. He stomped up the stairs to his room only long enough to grab his new sword Long Edge and then promptly left their house, making his way directly to the teleportation gate. "Lindas!" He cried as he walked into the gate.

His vision was obscured by a bright white flash of light, when it cleared he was faced with a tall, brilliantly white church. The town of Lindas of the forty eighth floor had a medieval theme to it, from its high stone walls to its quaint stone cottages. The white washed stone church across from him was the starting point of a long chain of quests for the floor. Small ditches crisscrossed the entire town and water flowed through them freely.

All of the stores and houses in the town were powered by water wheels, thus the reason for the extensive irrigation. Cronan navigated his way over the many bridges that dotted the town's landscape, chuckling to himself as a family of ducks drifted under him.

Lisbeth's store was situated in the south-western area Lindas in its own secluded islet, as it was surrounded on all sides by irrigation ditches. The two story building had a waterwheel on the western side of it and a terrace on the second floor. From the bridge leading to her shop Cronan could see a rocking chair on the terrace, rocking gently from the brief breeze.

A bell chimed as he opened the door and the NPC at the counter immediately welcomed him to the store.

"Is there anything you need?" The artificial intelligence asked.

"No, thank you," Cronan said, waving the NPC away. "Liz? You around?"

"Hang on!" Came a muffled response from the thick red door next to the counter. The warrior-blacksmith contented himself with examining his friend's creations while he waited. He walked the length of the store on both sides, looking at the varied weaponry. Per usual Lisbeth's skill amazed him, he was no slouch when it came to smithing, in fact it would not be a far shot to call him one of the best. But this girl's skills were beyond the systems comprehension, she had told him in secret that occasionally she would craft a weapon and when she checked the parameters the screen would only be filled with question marks.

That was the brilliant part of being an expert-smith _and_ an adventurer, she had collected several pieces of equipment that increased her smith skill far above the normal boundaries of the Cardinal Systems expectation, of course every time she did it did not take long for the system to re-calibrate itself. Cronan heard a click behind him and he turned to find Liz finally appearing from behind the red door.

"What do you need?" She asked distantly.

"I was hoping we could hang out today," Cronan said, smiling hopefully. "Today is kind of special and-"

"I really can't," She replied, glancing nervously at the door to her workshop. "I have a lot of orders to fill today." Cronan felt any excitement he had deflate.

"I could help?" Cronan continued.

"No," Liz said shortly. "I should get back to work we'll talk later."

"Are you sure I can't-"

"No." The blacksmith said rather coldly. "I really don't want your help." With that the woman let the door shut behind her. Cronan stood dumbfounded for a moment, even when he had made her feel uncomfortable Liz had never treated him like that before.

Fine. If that was how they all wanted to treat him today then that was just fine. He didn't need them. The warrior-blacksmith stormed out of the shop, slamming the door as he left. With no destination in mind and no desire to go home he wandered around Lindas, players gave him a wide berth when they saw the snarling scowl plastered to his face. He found himself back in the middle of town, the town's square was smattered with groups of players chatting and laughing as they shopped. Grumbling to himself the warrior-blacksmith entered the nearest inn and sat himself at the bar.

"Give me the Lindas' special," He muttered slamming a few Col onto the bar. The NPC accepted the money and then materialized a large wooden mug in front of the player. Without a second thought Cronan tossed his head back and drained the entire pint. "Another." He ordered and the barkeep acquiesced. Before he could toss back the second drink a smaller, older player seated himself next to Cronan.

"Looks like you could use a little pick-me-up," The short man gave a sleazy smile and ordered a drink himself.

"I'd rather just be left alone," Cronan grumbled from behind his pint. The man chuckled and took a gulp of his drink.

"If you say so sonny, but if you find yourself wanting a little 'feel good', you might want to consider visiting the Sunshine Forest on the twentieth floor." Cronan stared at the man suspiciously, tapping his finger against the mug.

"What's in the forest?" He asked finally, glaring hard at the older man. The player flashed him a grin that happened to be missing a few teeth and then brought up his menu and began to manipulate it. A trade screen sprang to life in front of Cronan. "Map data?"

"Take it and find out for yourself."

Cronan stared at the menu intensely; it could have been a trap. The man could easily be working with a PK guild. How many players would fall for this though? If it was a trap it was not very well thought out or convincing.

"This had better be legit," Cronan growled as he hit the accept button.

"Oh, I'm sure you will enjoy this." The older player said, flashing his grin again. With the transaction completed the older man drained the rest of his drink and left, leaving Cronan to his thoughts. The warrior kept the trade menu up and tapped his fingers pensively as he stared at the data in front of him.

Finally he dismissed the menu with a wave of his hand and made for the door of the inn. He would check it out; it was probably not a trap. But if it was, then pity the poor PK'ers that targeted him today.

"Sunny Hills!" He snapped at the teleportation gates, not bothering to break his stride, he simply walked through whether it was ready or not. In a flash of light the small town of the twentieth floor was revealed to him, small houses and shops dotted the rolling landscape before him. The warrior marched past them without a second glance, making his way out town and toward the floor's sub-dungeon.

Sunshine Forest was only fifteen minutes away from town at a marching pace. As he entered the dungeon Cronan brought up the map data from the old man and followed the pre-determined path. As the warrior rounded a corner a loud hissing sound drew his attention from the map. Before him stood a Killer Mantis the giant bug hissed again before taking a swipe at him.

The warrior sneered as he brought up his arm to block, a CLANG resounded through the trees as the scythe-like appendage bounced off of his heavy gauntlet. The fingers of his other arm straightened and glowed a bright yellow. With a loud cry he leapt and drove his rigid hand into the mantis' head, right between its eyes. The creature let out an unnatural shriek before dissipating into blood red data fragments.

"I love the low levels," Cronan muttered as he brought the map data back up. It was refreshing being able to kill a creature in one move, as opposed to the higher levels where he had to actually work for his kills. The warrior started out on his journey again, keeping the map floating to the side of him.

The rest of his venture passed quietly as his path was oddly devoid of monsters. With a shrug the warrior put it past him and continued through the forest, checking the map briefly. The path that the data had shown him, had brought him to one of the many exits that dotted the perimeter of the massive dungeon, he paused momentarily to glance at the darkening sky. Wherever the exit would take him would hopefully be a safe zone, otherwise he'd be trekking home in the dark.

Stepping through the entrance/exit enveloped the warrior in light briefly, and as it faded it revealed a small meadow with a mansion situated on a knoll. Men and several women drifted in and out of the entrance laughing loudly, smiles plastered on all of their faces. Where the hell was he?

Cronan swiped his hand down, summoning his menu. He brought up the map data for the entire twentieth floor and skimmed along it, looking for the small arrow icon that indicated his position. The arrow was positioned on the other side of the cliffs that made a wall around the western side of the main village. The meadow was surrounded on three sides by the cliff face, with the fourth side facing the dungeon.

"Wow, its close enough to the town to be considered a part of it, but it's isolated because of the cliffs. That's pretty cool." Cronan muttered to himself as he continued to examine the map. A small black line caught his attention; he magnified the area to reveal a path that ran from the meadow into town. He glanced up from the map and sure enough an archway was carved into the cliff. "Why the hell did I have to go through the forest?!"

Cronan angrily dismissed the menu and trudged toward the building. The mansion was painted a deep magenta color and its huge oak doors (which were left open) were an even darker shade of the same color. Inside the first thing that grabbed his attention was the bar that took up the entire far corner of the manse. The second attraction, which undoubtedly was the _main_ attraction, was the women.

They milled about the large crowd, scantily clad, serving drinks and food, flirting with the customers. The warrior watched as one of the girls took a man by his hand and lead him up the grandiose marble staircase, through one of the tall doors that ranged across the second floor. Cronan felt his jaw drop to the shiny, white marble floor. This was a brothel, a _whore-house_!

"Something I can help you with honey?" A woman asked, reaching over and gently shutting his mouth. The player, as indicated by the green diamond above her (and all of the girls) head, was only a little shorter than him. She stared at him expectantly with large grey (almost silver) eyes. He found himself sizing her up before he could stop himself. The woman's black silk like hair fell about her slender shoulders. She wore a forest green dress in an oriental fashion, with a slit up the side that stopped just above mid-thigh. She smiled from behind full, red painted lips and he felt his eyes drop lower, coming to rest on the ample cleavage that her dress revealed.

"If you want to stare that's fine," The woman said, a hint of humor in her voice. "But you're going to need to buy a drink first." Cronan felt his face flare up and he ripped his eyes away.

"Sorry…" He muttered, taking a sudden interest in the crystal chandeliers that were strewn about the ceiling. The woman laughed softly and the sound sent shivers through the young warrior.

"If you are going to come in you will have to remove that," She gestured at his sword. "We have a no arms and armor policy." She let her fingers rest gently on the hilt of Long Edge and Cronan's battle instincts came crashing back. He took a step back and his hand shot to the hilt of his blade.

The woman's eyes widened for a moment before she regained her composure and glanced over at the wall adjacent to the door. A large player in heavy armor straightened up, bringing his mace from its resting place on his shoulders. Feeling safer the player looked back at Cronan, the coy look returning to her eyes, she cleared her throat and looked at his sword expectantly.

"Of course," Cronan said after a moment, letting his hand fall from the hilt of his weapon. He opened his equipment menu and un-equipped the greatsword and replaced his armor with his casual wear, a tan tunic and breeches. "Terribly sorry," He said with a small bow, smiling slightly at the woman. She smiled at him mischievously and curtsied back at him.

"My name is Jade, welcome to The Jasmine Palace." Almost as if by magic (not that the phenomenon existed) the sensual scent of jasmine floated through the air on cue. He inhaled deeply and the scent seemed to drift into his brain, making him a little light headed. "Is there anything I can get you?" The warrior shook his head, a goofy smile plastered to his face.

"I- uh…I think I'll just go sit at the bar for a couple of minutes." He smiled and waved to cover his hasty retreat; hoping distance from the woman would help clear his head. The bar itself was strangely vacant, but every few minutes one of the girls would come trotting over for some order made by the patrons.

The warrior seated himself at the middle of the bar, blowing out a loud sigh. He let his head rest on the bar; at least it hadn't been a PK trap, although he might have preferred fighting. _Then again_ , he thought as he watched one of the girls walk by, _this isn't so bad._

"Anything I can get for ya'?" The barkeep asked. He peeled his face off of the wooden surface to look at the woman speaking. Her brunette hair was pulled back into a pony tail except for two strands of hair that fell on either side of her face, framing it and showcasing her emerald green eyes.

"Uh…"

"I'm afraid we don't have that in stock, but how 'bout some ale from Floria." She gave him a small smile and wink before grabbing a bottle off of the shelf behind her. The woman wore a leather corset over a low cut white blouse that puffed out at the end of the sleeves like a pirate costume. Her light tan breeches stuck to her tightly, showing off her round- _Focus Cronan._

"Thanks," He said meekly, taking a drink from the mug she set in front of him. He glanced around the manor, watching as the girls attended the clients, giggling and smiling. "How did this whole thing even come about?"

"Necessity," The barkeep answered, leaning on her elbows. "It's a great way for the girls to make Col and for the front-liners to blow off a little steam…among other things." She threw a wink at Cronan that made him more than a little uncomfortable.

"But what about this building," The warrior continued, keeping his eyes away from the woman. "There isn't a carpentry skill that I'm aware of and I didn't think there were any houses like this for sale."

"A stroke a' luck that." She answered, smiling fondly at the girls. "There are plenty a' houses that you can only buy after completing a quest for it. This was a secret quest that some partners and I found."

"What kind of quest?"

"Yer basic haunted house quest, you had to buy the place first and then clear out the ghosts. And now it's Aincrad's only brothel." She gave him a proud grin. "So, what might be yer pleasure tonight?" She waggled her eyebrows at him and smirked. Cronan felt himself turn red again but before he could spit out an awkward answer they were interrupted by shouts from the main room.

Cronan followed the barkeep and the man with the mace over to the commotion. A dark haired man held one of the girls roughly by her arm with one hand; he waved a long-sword around with the other.

"What the hell is going on over here?" The barkeep demanded, glaring daggers at the man. Cronan glanced at the girl expecting to find tears in her eyes. Instead he saw defiance; the girl frowned at the man in disdain.

"I'll tell you what's wrong here," The man said through a nasally voice. "Your _whore_ here is a tease."

"He won't pay," The girl told the barkeep.

"You're charging far more than you're worth!" The man snapped back.

" _Excuse you?!_ "

"That's quite enough Lily." The barkeep said, before turning back toward the blonde man. "If you aren't willing to pay then you're going to have to leave." On cue the man with the mace took a step forward only to halt as the offender brought his weapon to rest on Lily's slender neck.

"I don't think I'm ready to go just yet," He said, grinning wickedly, letting his blade slide harmlessly across the girl's skin. "I haven't been serviced yet." Cronan would take no more, this obnoxious jerk was making his already terrible birthday even worse and you most certainly did _not_ treat a lady like that. Scowling, the warrior marched up to the man, glaring pointedly at the sword.

"And who the hell are you?" The swordsman asked, leveling his blade at Cronan. The blacksmith took a moment to glance at the blade; it was a decorated one-handed long-sword, gold was inlaid along the flat of the blade, leaving only it's edge visible which shown a slight blue under the light. Sapphires were set in the middle of the blade at six inch intervals, matching the sword edge's sheen.

"Crafted with what looks like Edge Steel," Cronan said at last.

"What?" The man asked nervously.

"Not a bad material at all," The warrior-blacksmith continued, ignoring the man. "In fact it's one of the better metals available right now. Unfortunately all this decoration has ruined what could have been a potentially good weapon." As he took a step forward the blonde man let go of Lily and gave a battle cry as he swung the blade at Cronan. The majority of the girls closed their eyes or turned away, however after a moment passed without a cry or the sound of data fragments and they slowly turned back.

"If I had to guess I'd say the smith messed up and then covered the sword in decoration to cover it up." The only part of Cronan that had moved was his arm which had darted up to catch the blade before it descended too quickly. "The problem with decoration on blades; is that it causes weakness in the material and the core of the weapon itself." The warrior slid his hand down the blade and grasped it tightly at one of the sapphires, his fist glowed green briefly and with a grunt he snapped the blade in half.

The dark haired man's jaw dropped as he stared at his sword which was slowly breaking into data fragments. He never saw the yellow shining foot heading for him. Cronan's boot connected with the side of the man's head and sent him flying through the great doors at the manor's entrance.

"It's a shame the game doesn't allow us to put a mark on the weapons we make, I'd love to have a talk with whoever wasted that steel." Since he had broken the weapon he would not get the chance to appraise it. Cronan turned to find the girls staring at him curiously.

"Well that was somethin' else," the barkeep barked, throwing her arm over his shoulder. "Never woulda taken you for a weapon-smith."

"I learned from one of the best," he replied with an awkward smile, the barkeep smiled back and dragged him back to the bar.

"Well we owe you one, so whatever you want is on the house. Drink wise of course, I'll still have to charge you for the girls." The brunette woman paused to glance over his shoulder, and then grinned all the wider. "All though if you wait until closing I'm sure one of the girls wouldn't mind thanking you." Cronan glanced back to see Lily smiling softly, he returned it with and awkward wave.

"You don't need to do anything like that," He said, turning back to the woman. "I don't mind helping out people who need it." The woman's eye seemed to twinkle at his words.

"Allow me to introduce myself," She said. "I am Gwenden, head prostitute to the sleazier customers, den mother to the girls." She poured him another mug of ale and slid it over to him.

"Thanks," he muttered, taking a sip.

"So what brings a guy like you way out here?" Gwenden asked, leaning forward, elbows on the bar.

"Some old guy gave me the map data to this place."

"I had figured that much, we make all first time customers go through the forest to get here. Then we show them the trail through the cliffs." The woman chuckled, flashing a bright smile at him. "What I meant is why did the old man give you the data. You must have looked pretty down if he gave you the location to The Jasmine Palace."

"I was having a pretty rough day," The warrior replied, idly swirling his mug. "Today was kind of special, but everyone has just been kind of putting me off."

"And what made today so special?"

"It was, well _is_ , my birthday." At this Gwenden gave a small gasp, which was soon replaced with a big smile.

"Oh, girls!" She called into the main room. "It's someone's birthday!" At this the players gave a small cheer before breaking into a rendition of "Happy Birthday" that wasn't half bad, especially when they started their "dance". At the end the patrons applauded the girls and Cronan was left with a scarlet hued face, although he wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or something else.

"Well, that certainly made my day more interesting," The warrior admitted to a wide grinning barkeep.

"And since you not only helped us, but it's your special day, I'm sure any of the girls wouldn't mind giving you a discount. I know Jade and Lily are giving you the eye."

"Uh…" Cronan grimaced, struggling to find the most diplomatic words. "That's okay; I'm not really- What's that?" The warrior cocked his head to the side as his Listening skill picked up the quiet noise far before the rest of the players in attendance.

Before the head-girl could ask what he was talking about the noise had risen in volume, starting out as quiet static. Then fluctuating until the sound filled the entire mansion. Lily covered her ears and screamed, her eyes were nothing like they had been when the man had held her captive. Her eyes were filled with terror.

Everyone, patron and prostitute alike screamed frozen to their spot, glancing behind him Cronan saw Gwenden frozen in place, eyes wide. She stared at the door, mouth open as if she was trying to say something. Finally her mouth moved, whispering, if it wasn't for Cronan's high Listening skill he never would have heard her.

"Door." The warrior-blacksmith glanced from her to the door confused but the woman offered no answer. He trotted over to the door, trying to ignore the screaming and chaos around him as some of the player's regained motor function and were scrambling to get away from the tall doors.

He glanced out the door; at the edge of the clearing, where the forest entrance was stood a lone figure. Was that a player? Clouds that had been blocking the moon slowly meandered across the sky, letting moonlight spill across the meadow. The warrior focused on the figure, cursing himself for not investing in the Night Vision skill. The "player" was not moving but as Cronan stared he thought he could barely make out his face…or lack thereof.

"Don't look at it!" One of the girls screeched, snapping the warrior out of his trance. He slammed the doors shut violently, then collapsed against them, breathing heavily. Why the hell was he shaking? The sound of the doors shutting seemed to cut off the static and snapped the players out of their fear induced panic. There was a rush of movement and shouting as the patrons wrenched out teleportation crystals.

The mansion was filled with flashes of light as the players disappeared, leaving the girls defenseless.

"You sure they were front-liners?" Cronan joked, trying to relieve the tension in the room. Most of the girls had yet to recover, some held each other for comfort, others just cried as they rocked back and forth.

"You cannot blame them for this instance," Gwenden said, recovering her poise. She rested her hand comfortingly on one of the girl's shoulder as she stepped into the main room. "That is no ordinary monster." Cronan could see her visibly shaking.

"What do you mean?" The warrior asked, trying not to remember the creature that was outside.

"It used to be a mini-boss. A Wraith to be specific, it was the final enemy in our quest for the house…I wasn't completely honest about that quest, we never finished it. But we couldn't defeat the mini-boss. So we didn't, what was the point? We already had the house, who cared if it wasn't dead, it didn't even haunt the house, it was in the forest.

"So we let it go; if it was in some dark, random corner of the dungeon it couldn't bother us… At least that was what we thought. I don't know what happened, but something mutated it, changed it. The system…It had to be the Cardinal System, taking rumors and internet information and the wraith changed into that… _thing._ "

"Yeah I was going to ask about that…what the hell was that thing and was it wearing a suit?"

"It's strong." Was all she said before spinning on her heel and heading behind the bar to pour herself a drink. "It's a damn shame you can't get drunk in this game."

"Has…" He hesitated. "Has it taken anyone?"

"Yes," Gwenden threw back another drink before continuing. "A few of the girls and a customer."

"And you still haven't tried to deal with it?" Cronan asked incredulously.

"You don't understand," One of the girls muttered, shivering. "That isn't a normal monster…"

"I don't want this." Another girl murmured, still rocking back and forth. Cronan gazed around the room, taking in the overwhelming aura of defeat. Lily, the brave, defiant girl that had glared death in the face, was still crying. Gwenden choked down another mug of alcohol.

"Maybe I can help," He said at last, instantly regretting. Gwenden stopped mid drink to stare at him.

"We can't ask you to do that."

"You didn't ask, I offered." The warrior waved his hand down, summoning his menu screen. In a few moments he was fully re-equipped again, he gave himself a few stretches to get used to it then flashed the girls a brave smile. "All monsters die, that's a cardinal rule."

With that the warrior wrenched open the door and strode into the darkness to face the monster.

And so he kneeled in the small meadow like safe area (which wasn't so safe) holding his shaking blade in front of him. He looked anywhere but the creatures face, the things suit, the tentacles writhing from its back, even the full moon that provided more light than Cronan wanted.

"Why?" Cronan choked. Why was this thing here, this was not even a monster mutation, this was taken straight from the internet, damn the Cardinal System! He had boldly charged into the forest, intent on making good on his promise. But it hadn't taken long for the monster to emotionally break him. The static, the ability to teleport…but what messed with him the most was the silence that the creature emanated even through all of the static that filled the atmosphere.

He had become the prey as soon as he had set foot in the forest…No, he realized with horror, he had become prey as soon as he had set eyes on him in the mansion. Cronan glanced back up and the creature had moved closer. He let out a frightened yelp and scrambled backwards, holding his blade in front of him.

Why did this _thing_ exist!?

And damn that static!

The creatures tentacles writhed violently in pleasure and one swung at Cronan. The warrior yelped and swung at it, forgetting about the sword skill system entirely. The appendage retracted and its master stared at the warrior-blacksmith, willing him to look at the creature. And he did.

The targeting system was only able to show him the creatures name for a second but it was enough to become burned into his mind. The Tall One the, _the_ at the beginning of his name meant that he was a boss or as strong as one. Cronan didn't have time to ponder it, his attention was fully on the creatures face and though he didn't notice it, the monster was getting closer.

 _Just give up._ That's what he should do, just let it take him, who cared.

 _They do,_ said a little voice in his head, softer than the other voice, less obtrusive. _Who were they? His friends? They hadn't even wished him a happy birthday; they didn't care…did they? They had always supported him in the past, whether it was in battle or during his smithing._

A tentacle wrapped around his armored torso and dragged him into the air. _They had his back when it came down to it, even when Vlinn played jokes on him or Sky occasionally snapped. He wasn't all sunshine and kittens himself._

The creature brought the player to eye level, not that it had eyes. _So what_ _if they had forgotten his birthday, they hadn't celebrated in two years! Just because they were under strain did not excuse how he had thought._

The static had increased to an almost unbearable level, the creature slowly brought Cronan's face closer to its own. _It was as if the warrior was watching the events outside of his body. Look at how desperately he grasped his sword, Cronan could not even remember the last time he had actually used a blade. If anything they were for decoration and practice, he enjoyed his Martial Arts skill, so why was he now trying to swing his sword, trying to make distance from an enemy when he so often charged closer to them._

 _He remembered their first couple weeks in Aincrad and how much of a struggle it had been for Vlinn to overcome the fear of death. Here he was with the same predicament, except he knew the answer._

The creature was unprepared when the warrior in its grasp dropped its blade and slammed his forehead into the creature's blank face. The Tall One loosened its grasp as it reeled back in shock, instead of leaping backing and gaining distance the warrior rushed in, hand glowing. He executed the sword skill Embracer, his rigid fingers penetrating the creature's chest, before the boss level monster could react a glowing boot propelled it away from the player.

"Sorry Slendy," Cronan muttered, raising his fists into a ready stance. "I think my friends are waiting for me to come home." A fat tentacle darted toward his face causing the warrior to jerk his head away. His hand shot out, clamping down on the appendage, his free fist shined yellow and he brought it down swiftly, detaching the tentacle.

The static stopped for a brief moment, replaced by a garbled cry. The Tall One threw its head back screeching in pain. Gaping in disbelief the warrior glanced up at his enemy's health bar, removing the tentacle had taken a considerable amount of health away from it, almost an entire bar.

"So that's your weakness." The warrior grinned savagely and charged the beast, _this_ was the feeling he _loved_. Being washed in battle, causing red rips to appear all over his enemy. The battle passed in a blur of maneuvering that Cronan was sure was far beyond his Agility stats. The warrior slowly ripped away and destroyed the tentacles that sprouted from his enemies back. He retreated when he needed to in order to swallow down a health potion or activate a Healing crystal.

When the last appendage had been removed the creature collapsed to its knees with only a sliver of health left. Cronan grasped the being tightly by its face.

"Disappear!" He growled, clenching his fist. The Tall One exploded into a chaotic tornado of data fragments which floated gently into the sky. The static finally stopped and the only sound that filled the small clearing was Cronan's heavy breathing. The warrior collapsed, grinning and laughing. His health bar was deep into the red zone but somehow he had come out of that fight alive. "Boo-yah!" He said weakly.

The trip back to the mansion was refreshingly uneventful, as if all of the monsters in the dungeon wanted nothing to do with him. The Jasmine Palace was a gorgeous sight for him to behold and as he walked through the doors he was assaulted with a tight embrace.

"You did it!" Gwenden shouted. "The quest disappeared from my log a little while ago!" Shouts and cheers assailed him from all sides as the girls poured in to add to the embrace. Cronan could not help himself; he laughed and returned the massive group hug as best he could.

"Is he really gone," Lily asked after everyone had extracted themselves from each other.

"Yes," The warrior smiled. "He won't bother you anymore." At this the player smiled and pressed herself into his chest again.

"I don't know how we can repay you." Gwenden admitted, smiling as her girls cheered and celebrated. "We owe you our lives."

"You don't owe me anything, I'm just happy that you're all safe." He offered the brunette a smile but she returned it with a coy smirk.

"Girls! I think our hero here deserves some thanks." And before he could say anything the warrior-blacksmith found himself swarmed by the players.

Cronan arrived in front of his house far later than he had originally planned, but the delay hadn't exactly been unwelcome. He inserted his key and opened the door to find it completely dark inside. He had already assumed that his friends would be asleep; however they usually left the lights on downstairs. As he passed the entrance to their living room the lights flared to life and the house was filled with shouts.

"Happy Birthday!" This was followed by several loud noises that sounded suspiciously like fire crackers. His friends stood at the door way grinning from ear to ear, the room was filled with players they had come to be acquainted with over the years, all decked out in cone shaped party hats. They had even managed to put one on Seravana who was sitting in the corner looking less than thrilled about the object attached to her head. A pink-haired player grinned at him and waved from one side of the room.

 _So they had remembered._ He thought, blinking through a slight stinging sensation in his eyes.

 **A/N: Why yes that was basically slenderman thank you for asking.**


	21. Grapes of Wrath

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Grapes of Wrath_**

 **May 15** **th** **, 2024 12:15 pm**

Sky pulled her long muffler tighter against her face to ward off the fierce wind that bereted her. In the higher peaks of the mountains the crags formed make shift corridors that seemingly channeled the howling wind toward the lone player. She waited for the torrent of air to briefly die down before leaping up to an outcrop and from there to another one even higher up the cliffs.

As soon as her feet touched the relatively flat rock on the mountain side the wind began to pick up again. The small player nestled herself against the side of the cliff, waiting for the squall to again settle. The past few months of her and her friend's lives had been an explosion of activity, Kibaou had been content to call on them when he needed to and had paid them cheaply. However the new leader of the Army, Thinker, thought of the trio as a small mercenary band and treated them as such.

He even went so far as to mention their existence to several of the other guild leaders of the game. As such they had found themselves showered with requests ranging from quest scouting, to tracking down and returning guild members that went AWOL and even hunting smaller Orange Guilds (although there were very few of those requests). When Kibaou heard about their new sources of income he had initially demanded their attention for several jobs.

Vlinn went on these assignments without the other two so they could focus on their new clients, he insisted that it was _he_ that made the bet and as such Sky and Cronan needn't bother with the snake of a man. As long as he had Sera the other two were confident he would come back and he always did. After a month of Vlinn completing Kibaou's missions the Army sub-leader gave up, leaving the Army's requests to Thinker and freeing up Vlinn to rejoin his friends.

When they started working as true mercenaries and received a fairly steady income it became obvious that putting a small portion of their earnings aside would be a sensible idea. They could use the savings for their home and food while using their own earnings for themselves. The logical evolution of that thought was to create a guild; once a guild was formed the system would automatically take a small percentage of the player's income and place it in the guild vault which could then be accessed only by the guild leader. Guild members could also message each other without the need of being in a party together and without having to pay the normal messaging fee.

After they agreed that a guild would benefit their new business they took a quick trip to the third floor to finish a short quest that allowed them to create their guild in the first place. After a short discussion they decided to have Sky represent them as their leader.

"The way I see it, the Leader is basically the one that does the grocery shopping," Cronan had explained casually. "And you do that now so I don't see much of a difference." The tall warrior had shrugged off her seething glare as Vlinn attempted to restrain his bubbling laughter. And so they created the smallest guild in Aincrad.

The _Oath Keepers_ were born.

Sky allowed the muffler to fall down from her mouth and expelled a long breath, creating a small cloud of fog in front of her. The swordswoman pulled down the left sleeve of her tunic that sat beneath her fitted black leather armor and stared at the symbol tattooed to her fore arm.

On her skin lay an intricate skeleton key; its teeth were aimed toward her opposite arm, within the space of the key's teeth one could make out the silhouette of a heart. The bow bubbled out into three semi-circles, resembling a club from a playing card suit. Taking up the center of the bow was a diamond with two small spades on either side of it. A thin ribbon started at the end of the bow and then spiraled down and around the key stopping and flaring out at the end of the key.

A small smile touched her lips as she recalled the motto they had established for the guild. _This world may break us, but may we never break our vows._

Her friends had the same symbol tattooed on the same place. One of the NPC's at the Guild Hall where players registered guilds could place their guild symbol on their avatars and so they had elected to do so. It had come as a shock when the NPC informed them that tamed beasts could also be marked and so Seravana now proudly bore the symbol on the fur of the right side of her flank.

With a sigh Sky pulled her sleeve back down, tightened the scarf and proceeded back up the mountain. The wind had died down for the moment and she had best take advantage of the lapse in resistance while she could. The agile swordswoman made her way up the cliff face, bouncing from outcropping to outcropping when she could.

The fifty sixth floor was mountainous region, if Sky recalled correctly the Clearers had a difficult time with this floor's field boss. That particular force had been led by one of the sub-leaders of the Knights of Blood.

"Asuna _the Flash_ ," Sky muttered, pulling herself onto one of the many plateaus that dotted the floor's landscape. The girl was easily one of the strongest players in Aincrad and Sky wondered how she matched up.

So engrossed with imaginary battles was she, that the swordswoman nearly ran face first into a stationary NPC. The dancing, golden exclamation point above its head signified that he had a quest. Sky quickly checked her map to make sure she was at the coordinates that Keith had given her. As she dismissed her menu she finally looked at her surroundings. Atop the village sized mountain top sat a large vineyard. Grape vines created a veritable jungle in the middle of the mountains. The vines were not restricted to the flat space, amidst the surrounding cliffs Sky could make out several smaller areas choked by grape vines among the crags of rock.

In the middle of the plateau sat a large two storied building which could have easily fit two of her house, or so Sky thought. This area of the fifty sixth floor was known to produce the greatest tasting wine in all of Aincrad, competing even with the Dark Elf made wine of the ninth floor.

The swordswoman had come across a recipe that required a certain game bird be marinated and fried in the wine. After all of their business and success the leader of the Oath Keepers thought that they could use a reward. _It's good for morale_ , she thought. So Sky had asked Keith where she could find the vineyard and quest and had cleared her plans for the day.

She turned to the NPC standing next to her and opened her mouth to speak.

"Hey honey!" The swordswoman jumped slightly at the voice behind her. The player spun around, dropping into a crouch, her hand grasping at the hilt of the katana that rested on her back. Shoran stood before her holding his hands up peaceably. "Hey now, no need to skewer me!" Sky blew out a small sigh of relief and relaxed her stance.

"What are you doing here?" She asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. The player flashed a charming smile at her and she had to fight to keep herself from blushing.

"I was in the neighborhood and saw that you were on this floor, with my Tracking skill it didn't take long to find you."

"They should re-name it the _stalking_ skill." She mumbled, glancing back at the vineyard.

"Would you like some help on the wine making quest?" He asked, flashing that irritating (but charming) smile. "It goes faster with more than one person and as I recall you still owe me a date anyway." At that the swordswoman raised an eyebrow at the male player.

"Oh do I now?" A slight smile played at the corner of her lips but she fought to keep it down. She tapped her finger against her cheek in mock thought, looking everywhere but at Shoran. "Well…I suppose I wouldn't mind getting home sooner." She opened up her menu, manipulated it for a moment and then sent the party invite to the thief-based player.

Shoran grinned widely as he accepted and as Sky's health bar appeared in his HUD he raised an eyebrow of his own.

"You joined a guild?"

"Made," She corrected, adopting an air of faux-nobility. "I'm surprised you haven't heard of us." At this she turned her nose up and stalked over to the NPC. Snickering, the thief followed suit, taking his place next to the female player. He stayed silent as Sky cycled bored, through the NPC's dialogue. Despite the fact that the man in front of her was just data she still felt guilty when she drifted off briefly.

"Were you paying attention at all?" Shoran asked.

"You don't need to; I'll just read the quest info on my menu." The swordswoman swiped her hand down, creating her menu. Shoran watched with an eyebrow raised expectantly. "There, pick grapes, can't be much clearer than that." Sky strode purposely toward the nearest grape vine. She touched it expectantly and a small screen sprang into existence in front of her. A scowl crossed her soft features when the menu did not offer any options for the grapes. She tapped her finger onto the menu angrily and then when that bore no fruit (so to speak) the swordswoman settled for glaring angrily at the screen.

Shoran cleared his throat softly to catch the woman's attention, a move he instantly regretted when she swung around and aimed a glare at him. The rogue jerked his thumb at a large wooden tub that the NPC had materialized after the dialogue had been completed. Sky's brow furrowed as she glanced from the tub to her partner. Cautiously she took the tub by the edge and dragged it over to the grape vine.

When she tapped it a second time the new menu finally produced options, and with a second tap of her fingers several grapes appeared inside the wooden construct.

"I told you, you should have listened-" Shoran stopped as he caught a flash of blue at the bottom of his peripheral. He glanced down to see a throwing knife glowing in the swordswoman's hand.

"Did you say something?" She asked sweetly.

"Nope."

"Good, now help me pick these grapes."

It did not take them long to fill the tub with the two of them working from one end of the vineyard to the other. Once they had the object filled up they took it, one to a side and carried it up the middle path that lead to the large building. As they approached the door swung open and a large player stepped out, hefting his two-handed hammer.

He held out his hand, stopping them short.

"Hold on you two. This is Red Hawk territory, if you want to enter the facility you'll have to pay the toll."

"Toll? This place is part of a quest!" The short woman snapped. "You can't own the building!" The player hefted his hammer, staring at the small player with annoyance. Shoran grabbed her arm and pulled her back a few steps, giving a nervous chuckle.

"Evidently they can." He muttered to her. Behind the large man another player emerged from the building. This one was of average build; he had a straight sword on his hip and buckler on his arm. A leather cap covered his head, from it dangled a beautiful crimson feather, it was then that Sky noticed that the larger player had a leather cord tied around his bicep with the same gorgeous feather dangling from it.

"What seems to be the problem Daveth?" The newcomer asked.

"Just letting these two know that there is a toll for making wine in our vats." The player, Daveth, answered solemnly.

"You can't charge people for using a quest building!" Sky snapped, eyeing both of the players with contempt.

"Well I'm sorry you feel that way," The newer player replied. "Unfortunately I'm still going to have to charge you, can't make exceptions or everyone would ask for one." The swordswoman was about to speak again until her partner interrupted her.

"How much?"

"Well, I'll cut you a deal since you're such a lovely couple, one hundred Col." Shoran materialized the desired amount as Sky fought down the rising red in her face and tossed the small bag to the man. "Appreciate it, now if you'll follow me." Daveth stepped aside and Shoran ushered Sky in before she could protest, dragging the tub by himself.

"The name is Jerack," The man said as he led the way through the large building. "I'm the guild leader of the Red Hawks and the mastermind behind this wine outfit." They passed by a few players, some carrying crates others chatting amiably. Sky glanced at Jerack's name and healthbar, next to his name was a picture of the red feather that all of the players they had passed bore.

"You see every day, all day, we repeat the wine making quest as many times as we can and then we sell the wine on various floors, and we even have a few partnerships with some player shops."

"You mean to tell me, that I could have just bought the wine somewhere?" Sky sighed.

"Indeed you could have, but between you and me I think it tastes better when you make it yourself." Jerack led them into a room that took up the majority of the building, in the warehouse like room sat several huge wooden tubs and several smaller ones. "Well this is it, I hope you've enjoyed your tour of the Red Hawk Wine facility, have fun." And with that he spun on his heel and left.

 _Unbelievable_ , Sky thought to herself before shooting a glare at Shoran.

"What?"

"I can't believe you actually paid them, this is robbery. Something needs to be done."

"I'm sorry, would you like me to call the police? Oh, wait…" The rogue favored her with a grimace.

"We could call the army." She said with a slight pout, Shoran scoffed.

"They haven't been useful for a very long time."

"You would know better than I would, wouldn't you?"

"I'm sensing some hostility in that last sentence."

"Oh no, I meant nothing but kittens and rainbows." As soon as the words had left her mouth she cursed herself. _Kittens and rainbows? I've been hanging around Vlinn too much_. Shoran raised an eyebrow but said nothing about her odd choice of words.

"And what, pray tell, might your problem be? You wanted to make wine and I got you in here didn't I?"

"Never mind." She stated, dragging their bin of grapes over to a small vat. Together they lifted the tub up and dumped the grapes in. A flick of her hand and a few taps of her finger had Sky shoeless and she leapt effortlessly into the vat and began stomping around, determined to take her anger out on the grapes.

"I take it you're still sore over the whole Kibaou incident?" Shoran had joined her, squashing down grapes as best he could.

"I warned you about him," She said quietly. "I told you to get out while you could because I thought that maybe you cared enough to listen."

"The money is good." He offered hesitantly. Sky rolled her eyes and turned her back to him, she should have known two years ago that he was no good. Good was not an actual entity in this game.

"It's not like I do it because I want to." Shoran broke the uncomfortable silence. "I do what I have to do to survive. The job isn't as dangerous as you think and I get paid well. I just want to make it through alive." Sky didn't answer; she was lost in her own thoughts. Thoughts that stretched back to all she had lost to this game and things she may never gain.

Soon the grapes were merely skins and at the bottom of the vat sat a large bottle of wine. After clambering down the swordswoman grabbed the bottle and in seconds it was in her inventory, she waved away the quest completion screen and made for the exit, intent on putting distance between her and the player that she thought about too often.

"What would you have me do?" She stopped at this and turned slowly to face him. "What would await me should I leave the Army?"

"A friend."

"Just a friend?"

"New friends, a guild that would take you in." Shoran raised an eyebrow at her and she smiled slightly. "I'm a guild leader; I can do things like that." The rogue looked away, seemingly weighing his options. Sky found her eyes drawn to his handsome face, like steel to a magnet.

"You'd be willing to take me in?" He asked and Sky was nodding before he finished.

"Will you leave?"

"I don't know." He said nervously.

"Kibaou is no good," Sky said fiercely.

"I know."

"Then leave!" When the player didn't answer she spoke the next words quietly, almost at a whisper. "For me?" Shoran didn't answer again and she wasn't sure if he had heard her or not. If he joined the Oath Keepers it would be a small victory for her, something to show that the system would let her have just _one_ thing.

She hadn't noticed him move closer but when she looked up they were only inches apart. She had never noticed it before, but he wasn't very tall, taller than her but even Vlinn outstretched him by some inches.

"Will you leave?" She tried one more time and again he didn't answer, instead leaning closer to her. Sky's head was a rush of thoughts but one slipped through to shine clearly in her conscious.

Maybe just once, the system would let her have something good, she thought as his lips brushed hers.

Several hours after the two parted Shoran received a message, a job from Kibaou, the Army's sub-leader required that his spy meet him within the hour.

Shoran tapped his reply: _Meet you there, bring my normal payment._

The rogue did not hesitate as he tapped the send option.


	22. Wings

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Wings_**

 ** _(Vlinn)_**

 ** _June 18_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 6:22 pm_**

Steel rang on steel, singing out clear and simple. All around similar sounds lent their voice to the rising symphony of battle. Shields turning aside weapons cried out in loud, heavy baritone. Swords hissed across each other in their sweet soprano, creating sparks whenever two chords clashed in dissonance.

Shouts of anger and cries of pain rose above the simple steel harmony. The players weaved their own melody that ruined the beautifully simplistic song created by their weapons.

We fought in the midst of the cacophony that surrounded us, back to back, shoulder to shoulder and sometimes on complete opposite sides of the battle field. This was the largest battle we had participated in, barring the boss raids of course. Except, in the boss raids it was all of the players against the boss. Now it was player against player.

Fighting a monster is frightening but fighting another player is _terrifying._ Monsters have scripted movements and after fighting a certain species enough times you can predict their attacks, see through their feints and understand the pattern that their blade moves in. From there you simply place your weapon where they are going to be and collect the experience after.

Players don't abide by the rules set by the System. We rebel against it. When fighting a player, you are fighting against improbability, unpredictability and seething hatred. It's not often that players fight but when they due you can always assume that there is some bad blood between them.

Right now the only blood between me and the rapier-wielder in front of me was his own. At least there would have been if we actually bled in this game. The opposing player dropped into a lower stance and brought his weapons up and back to shoulder level, allowing a blue glow to fall upon his blade.

I dropped into my own low stance, knees bent, balance shifted, leaning forward; a sprinting stance. His blade darted toward me, a rapier user thrusting; how original. The point of his sword leapt for my face but I wasn't there anymore. What was there was a couple hundred pounds of fiery-colored fur heading straight for the enemy.

The man let out a startled cry and leapt back, trying to put distance between him and Sera. The only thing he accomplished was putting his un-armored neck in line with my saber. Thankfully without a head the man couldn't let out that pained cry that people too often made when they were killed.

I grimaced and took a moment to steady my breathing and take stock of the battlefield. As far as I could tell we had successfully beat back our enemies but the battle was far from over. I felt something brush against my leg and my hand habitually dropped to my familiar's head, my eyes flicked down to her briefly. My dusky-orange cat was an unrelenting ball of restlessness; her yellow eyes darted back and forth and the fur around her neck was on edge and bristled. Her breathing came shallowly, not labored from the fighting (she could run all day without feeling fatigue) she breathed in only a little through a slightly opened mouth to drink in the smells around her and give her a better warning should anyone approach.

Satisfied that she would give me ample notice of an impending attack, I turned my attention fully to the battle, scanning over the tumult until my eyes fell on a familiar, lanky figure.

Cronan swung his greatsword in a huge arc, backing off several players, before spinning and deflecting a blow from a two-handed hammer. The shock from the impact of the two weapons sent the enemy reeling, the blacksmith dropped his weapon and darted forward, fists glowing. In a barrage of fist based sword skills Cronan disarmed the player in several senses of the word before ending him with rigid-fingered jab into his chest. The warrior-blacksmith didn't slow as he wrenched his hand out before the player had even fully dissolved into data and spun around, hand already aglow. His hand smashed into the neck of the unsuspecting player behind him, I could almost hear the distinct snap and garbled cry.

I grimaced and averted my gaze; the worst part was Cronan had been grinning that feral grin of his. I would never tell him this but sometimes he frightened me more than the monsters that tried to kill us. Closer to me I could see the small form of our guild leader, gliding through her enemies.

Sky was graceful in comparison to our blacksmith, when she fought it looked more like a dance; more like a sword fight should look. No movements were wasted with her, no extra energy expanded. She placed herself exactly where she needed to be, no more no less. Sky gracefully pirouetted to the side, letting a mace swing harmlessly by her. In a flash of red her katana fell on the now off balance player, dropping his health into the red. Another flash of color had the swordswoman plunging her blade into the mace-wielders back.

The guild leader wrenched Momo no Hana out in time to parry aside a long-sword, the enemy blade slid along hers and she elevated her hilt, forcing the long-sword to slip uselessly off of the tip of her blade. This position put her in place for another sword skill and her sword fell, glowing red, straight on to her enemies head.

I glanced away, elegant or not death never looked pretty. I found my next target amidst the turmoil and gave Seravana a scratch on her head.

"Let's go," I muttered, she flicked her tail to show that she was ready and we took off across the field.

The job had come from the Army, weak as it was it relied on mercenaries like us more than their own players. They had received complaints from players passing through the sixty second floor; an orange guild had marked the main path through the floor as their territory and accosted unwary players as they made their way to the villages and towns.

Normally the guild wouldn't kill players so long as they paid the "toll", however they did not abstain from the occasional cold-blooded murder. As such Thinker had hired us to weed them out, it was until after we had arrived on the floor that we found out that we were not the first mercenaries that had been sent.

"That just fills me to the brim with confidence," Cronan muttered as we ventured down the only road on the entire floor.

"At least they won't be hard to find." Sky replied, glancing around for anything of interest. The sixty second floor was entirely grassland. There were no caves, or mountains, the entire wilderness was considered the sub-dungeon. Without mountains and caves to serve as entrances to the main dungeon, the designers placed the entrance next to a large watering hole, the entrance itself being a very non-discrepant set of stairs that descended underground briefly before entering the tower of the dungeon and beginning its ascent up again.

"Thinker said the orange guild usually sets up shop about midway up the path." Sky said, bringing up her map. "We aren't too far, now."

"Thank God." The warrior-blacksmith replied, the floor was very expansive as we had left the main town, Congodia almost two hours prior. A low growl emitted from the chest high grass to our left and hands immediately leapt to weapons. The main monsters that inhabited the floor were lion-like creatures, along with scavenger dogs and birds. However, a rare monster would sometimes spawn and begin hunting players. We had yet to encounter a Were-lion but it was definitely an experience I could do without.

The grass parted and a familiar orange head popped through, muscles relaxed and I favored my partner with a withering scowl. This was the fourth or fifth time she had run off into the brush; every time she heard a growl or a roar from far off she would prance away.

"Follow," I commanded, deepening my voice and pointing to the ground beside me. Sera's ears went back, but obediently she stalked over to me and took pace with us. I turned to my friends, scowling. "Do you think she's in heat or something?" That elicited a couple raised eyebrows.

"I don't think it works like that," Cronan said skeptically. I frowned and glanced back down at my familiar, she paced at my side, ears still flattened against her head. A roar echoed from far off and she turned toward it, ears coming up again.

"Seravana!" I snapped, glaring down at her. She growled in response, ears going back down but she didn't leave my side from that point on.

"Why don't you just let her go?" Sky asked, glancing at the cat.

"Maybe she won't come back," Cronan remarked, I glared daggers at the blacksmith.

"That's exactly why," I stated, ending the discussion. A bit farther up the path a leafy tree stretched over the road providing shade and a comfortable place to break for lunch. Sky passed out the sandwiches she had prepared this morning, all made with ingredients that replaced our stamina and kept our energy up. I opened up my menu and navigated through my inventory to an item of Meat. I clicked my canines together, debating whether or not to throw a piece to my cat.

Seravana sat, paws together, tail draped across them, just like I taught her; polite. She stared at me expectantly, after another moment of thought I dismissed my menu.

"You ate this morning," I explained, dropping to sit on the ground. Sera rumbled her displeasure at me.

"She might need the energy later," Sky said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"She should have thought about that before traipsing off wherever she pleased." I grunted, mimicking our leader's actions. With a huff my familiar dropped to the ground, laying her head on her paws and making sure to face away from me.

"I think she's mad at you," Cronan chuckled, digging into his second helping. I didn't bother answering, out of pity Sky threw an extra sandwich on the ground next to Seravana, the cat glanced back at me and I shrugged. She devoured the food in a single bite.

After lazing about for another few minutes we resumed our trek down the single path. As we neared where we approximated the bandits would be we stopped again, equipping low level armor. If we looked like low level players the orange guild would be more likely to attempt to stop us.

"Hide," I commanded and pointed at the brush on either side of the trail. Sera stalked into the grass effectively disappearing. If the guild was on the opposite side of the trail then we would have a surprise attack. If they were on the same side then we would have warning. More likely the guild would hit us from both sides, but we could hope.

With our appearance less intimidating and with Seravana safely hidden we continued toward our destination. It took as much control as I could muster not to have my hand resting on the hilt of my saber and the closer we got to the estimated point of encounter, the harder it was to push the impulse down. I could see Cronan straining in front of me, his fists clenched.

As we approached a hill in the path we heard voices coming from just beyond it, not raised in anger but spoken in calm tones. As we topped the hill we were awarded with a view of two fair sized groups. The group with mismatched armor and weapons (which were drawn) had the smaller party surrounded. Two of the players had stepped away from their respective groups and were speaking in confident tones.

The smaller group wore matching red armor, the kind you would see on a samurai exhibit; their apparent leader had his red hair held back with a red floral patterned headband, a katana sat on his left hip.

"You say there is a toll," The red-armored player said, scratching thoughtfully at the scruff on his chin. "But there is no toll booth or bridge for that matter."

"We dun need a toll booth," The bandit leader said through a thick accent, clearly agitated with speaking to this man.

"What about a bridge?"

"There ain't enough wa'er on this floor fer a damn bridge!"

"Well we could build one over that gully over there," The ginger said, pointing further down the path. "I'm sure there is someone with a carpentry skill in this game."

"We dun need a bridge!" The bandits grip tightened on his sword.

"All I'm saying is this would feel more official on a bridge or something." Behind him the red armored men chuckled light heartedly. Heads turned as we approached and I could hear the bandit attempt to suppress a frustrated sigh.

"An' oo' the 'ell are _you_?!" He demanded, pointing his blade at us.

"Confused," Cronan supplied.

"This is Trademarked territory," The sword-wielding man said without much enthusiasm, he had probably recited this line hundreds of times. "If you want ta git through, you 'ave to pay the toll."

"Trademarked?" Sky raised an eye at the man.

"Tha' would be our guild," He gestured to the ragtag bunch of players surrounding us. I glanced just above the players head; in the circle for guild symbols sat a small TM mark.

"That's clever and stupid all at the same time," I muttered.

"I kind of like it." Cronan said, nodding appreciatively. I rolled my eyes and glanced at our enemy, a fair amount of them had the orange indicator floating above them, although the leaders was green, he probably didn't like getting his hands dirty.

"Well I can see that you have your hands full, so we'll just be on our way," The red leader said non-chalantly, turning away from the bandit.

"That's it!" The Trademarked leader cried. "I dun care anymore, kill 'em and then take their valuables boys!" The bandit leapt at the red-haired man, sword glowing but the ginger had wrenched his katana out of its scabbard just in time to turn the enemy blade aside.

Chaos erupted as the larger guild crashed down onto us like a wave, my saber was out and swinging before I fully realized it. As I parried aside one player's blade I spotted another one out of the corner of my eye, coming at me from the side.

"Sera!" I cried and within seconds the enemy on my side went down under a mass of claws and fangs. It was soon that our guild became separated from each other and I ended up fighting next to the red-armored guild members several times, they knew how to fight or at least knew which end of their weapon was the pointy end.

Trademarked, although larger than both of us was not as experienced or leveled as either green guild that they had waylaid. Soon enough we had taken the advantage and soon were pushing them back. And so the battle continued as the sun began to set behind the savannah around us.

And so Seravana and I sprinted across the battlefield, after what felt like hours of fighting, toward the two guild leaders locked in combat. If we could take out the bandit leader then his men were more likely to give up, morale being as important as it was.

Unfortunately the Trademarked leader was far stronger than his men and he seemed to be fighting equal with the ginger. Well if you threw me and my cat into that equation, chances were, between the three of us we could back him into a corner and with any luck take him hostage. The guild leader's three guards seemed to have other plans in mind and before we could reach the dueling players they had formed a semi-circle around us.

Sera crashed into the nearest one, bringing the poor player to the ground as she ravaged her with tooth and claw. I ducked beneath a large players hammer and took an unsuccessful swipe at him. I rolled to the right and the oaf spun on the balls of his feet keeping me centered with him.

Idiot.

With his back turned he never saw the fierce jungle cat leap at him. Sera used the player as a spring board to leap over me and to the last guard behind me. The hammer-wielder she had used was pushed down to the ground. The last guard side stepped to avoid being hit by the furry wrecking ball. His sword glowed blue and he slashed at my familiar but my saber was there to intercept the blow. He turned his attention toward me, swinging another glowing blow toward me. I parried aside the blade and countered with a quick horizontal cut which he easily stepped away from.

I smirked as Sera came in from the side, swiping at the player. As he turned his attention toward my familiar I dashed in, sword glowing and launched a flurry of slashes at the man. The poor player turned his attention back to me, giving Sera the opening to attack again. The man could not keep up with two of us at once and he soon succumbed to my saber.

With the guards out of the way we rushed into the battle between leaders, chugging down a health potion as I ran. The bandit had gained ground on the red armored leader and after parrying aside a blow from the man's katana he thrust his one-handed straight sword toward the katana user's heart.

I shifted my balance forward as I ran, holding my blade high over my opposite wielding shoulder. I released my dashing sword skill as fast as it activated and crossed the distance between myself and the leaders in an instant. As the bandit's blade thrust forward, my saber fell, slicing through his arm.

He howled in mock agony and his sword dropped to the ground as his arm exploded into hundreds of blue data fragments. I let out a pent up breath and relaxed for a brief moment.

And that was the biggest mistake of my life.

The ginger's expression shifted from one of thanks to that of worry, his eyes widened as they looked behind me and his mouth opened to let out a warning that I never heard. What I did hear was Seravana's roar of caution. I spun around to find the female guard swinging her two-handed straight sword at me, hate gleaming in her eyes from behind several savage red rips that decorated her face.

As her blade fell, I realized that I had to react but I couldn't think, instinctively I brought up my free arm. Her blade easily sheared through my un-armored appendage and the blade arced straight into my face.

Darkness.

No life flashing before my eyes, no slow motion moment. No bright comforting light.

Just darkness.

And then hazy memories of a hand breaking into light. A body decaying into hundreds of blue pieces of data. My body? Why was my body doing that, I didn't remember people exploding into blue.

And then I remembered shouts of anger, crying…the roar of…a lion?

"Stay with me! Just a little longer!"

"No! No, no, no!"

"Help him!"

No, I wasn't remembering that, these weren't memories. I could actually hear someone sobbing…and then I felt warm wetness on my cheek.

Slowly I slid my heavy eyelids open; I was lying on the ground with several faces hovering above me. The ginger blew out a breath of relief. Cronan smiled down at me sincerely and Sky managed to grin through drops that were welling up at the corners of her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" I mumbled. She smiled a little more.

"Because you died," she managed. Cronan stooped down and helped me into a sitting position.

"You were almost gone," He muttered patting my shoulder.

"How?" I croaked, my throat felt parched.

"It was an item," The red-haired man said. His name read Klein. "It was given to me by a friend, The Divine Stone of Returning Soul it lets me resurrect a player as long as I can do it within ten seconds. It was a good thing you were right next to me. Thank you for saving me."

"I think we can call it even," I muttered. Behind my friends I heard angry cries, I ignored it for the moment. "What about the guild leader?"

"Got away," Klein growled. "He fled into the savannah after you went down." Savannah…that sounded like something familiar, I shook my head slowly, trying to clear my foggy thoughts. Something felt wrong, I raised my hand to my heart, why did I feel so empty? It hit me like a war-hammer.

"Where's Sera!?" I glanced on either side of me, my loyal companion should have been right next to me. A look of worry crossed between my friends and they stepped aside as a roar pierced the air. Beyond my guild, Klein's men were fending off fierce attacks from a Wildcat Prowler.

Seravana roared again and swiped at the nearest player before retreating, skirting around attacks. The players looked reluctant to actually commit to an attack.

"We told them to only defend themselves; we figured she would calm down once you were back," Sky glanced over her shoulder worriedly. I ground my teeth together and fought against fatigue to rise, seeing my struggle Cronan grasped my arm and hauled me to my feet. I steadied myself and then forced one foot in front of the other.

"Sera!" I called weakly. "Seravana!" The cat didn't respond, instead she swung her massive paw at a spear wielding warrior. "Sera please!" I opened my menu moving to my favorited items; as it opened I expected to see my ocarina sitting there, but it was empty. I swore and opened my main inventory, all empty.

Seravana roared again and leapt away from the red-armored guild. I swallowed hard, hoping to wet my throat a little.

"Sera enough come here!" Still nothing, an overwhelming sense of dread hit me. "Please Sera come back!" I was beginning to panic, my breathing came in short spurts. Why wasn't she listening, why wouldn't she come to me? I didn't need to ask, I knew the answer…I just wished I hadn't.

"Sera," I breathed. "Please just look at me." At this the cat's ear twitched and she turned toward me. Slowly, she stalked toward me, ignoring the players behind her. Her head tilted to the side as she approached, I saw her muscles bunch as if she was going to pounce. I prayed to the System for a miracle…I should have known better.

My familiar growled at me, not her playful growl and not her growl of displeasure. She growled violently and lowered herself, circling me slowly. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself grounded.

"God damn it, please don't do this to me," I whispered shakily, beside me lay a sword dropped by one of the bandits, slowly I bent down and grasped the hilt. Sera emitted a low growl and bared her fangs. "Please…" I begged as she took a step toward me.

 _She did not want this. Why would she want to hurt Little-One? After the player had struck him down it was as if a haze had obscured her vision. Enemies were all around her, they were keeping her from her master, and she would kill them all if she had to. She needed to find him!_

 _She roared, calling for him, why didn't he come? After what felt like an eternity of calling she saw him, and then she wanted him dead. The cat fought against every step she took, no. Step, no. Step, no!_

 _She didn't want to hurt him, he cared for her, took her in, and loved her when there was no one._

 _Step._

 _She didn't want this._

 _Step._

 _No!_

Sera froze right in front of me and for a moment there was the familiar spark of warmth in her eye and I felt hope. And then it was gone. With a savage growl she sunk her fangs into my shoulder, I ground my teeth together to keep from crying out in pain.

"I'm sorry," I growled, attempting to keep my voice under control. "I could have treated you so much better." For a moment it felt as if the pressure of her teeth loosened slightly. A yellow glow fell on the borrowed sword. I steeled myself.

And then plunged the blade into her heart.

 _It didn't hurt. If anything it made her feel better. If her master could do this, perhaps he would be fine without her._

Slowly Seravana's body began to dissolve.

 _She could remember clearly now. Her owner, the little girl…Delilah. She remembered her owner's brother; smiling down at her and placing the helmet on her head. And then for a while there was nothing, like she was sleeping._

 _Then she heard music. It awoke her, gave her direction. She followed the music, hungry and alone. The beautiful song led her to him. And for the first time in a long time, she was not alone anymore._

I was biting down hard on my inner cheek, trying to control myself. I felt her jaws loosen and I closed my eyes, not wanting to see what was next.

I felt something wet and rough rasp against my cheek, I forced my eyes open as Seravana gently rubbed her velvety head against my face. As her body drifted into the air, she pressed her forehead to mine… and then she was gone.

Just cerulean feathers, dancing along the winds.

Silence. In her place floated a gently glowing fang, which I carefully took into my hands. I was still trying to control myself, when my friends moved close to me.

"Vlinn-" Cronan began but I was gone, running as fast as I could. The floor passed by in a blur, grassland, trees, buildings. I ran until the fatigue took me and then I collapsed. It all came back, a wave of sorrow crashing down on me and I couldn't hold it in anymore.

I cried, I sobbed and I screamed and cursed the System, Kayaba Akihiko, the bandits. I swore and screamed at everyone I could think of before regressing back into a miserable sobbing heap.

Why? How could she just go like that? I pounded my fists against the ground, trying to fight through the warm wetness that was pressuring my eyes.

"Are you okay?" Asked a soft voice next to me, I hadn't even noticed someone approach.

"Fine," I answered gruffly, keeping my face buried in my arms, I rolled the fang between my fingers, holding on to the only piece left of the one that had essentially become my other half.

"Is that what I think it is?" The girl, for that was who it was, asked. I felt a smooth cold surface brush against my hand. Slowly, I lifted my head up, taking in the sight of a small blue dragon floating in front of me, nudging my hand. I glanced up at the young brunette standing above me, she had her hair tied in pig tails and the dragon floated up to her shoulder.

A Beast Tamer. That was not what I needed right now.

"There's a flower," She said softly. "On the forty seventh floor, if you hurry, we can get there, you have three days before it's permanent."

"I know about that flower." I said. "But it only works on familiars. She wasn't my familiar anymore." The girl frowned and stroked her pet before sitting next to me.

"I want to be left alone."

"I know what you want," She answered. "But that's not what you need." The little dragon fluttered down into my lap and lay down. This time I didn't fight the tears.

Cronan lay in his bed, arm thrown over his eyes. Rest hadn't come easily or at all in fact. He would never admit this out loud, but it hurt him too. He had a special relationship with the cat that not even her owner had. He grimaced as he remembered passing her food when the others weren't paying attention or scratching her head when no one was around.

The blacksmith growled and rolled out of bed, equipping his armor as he walked toward his door, he needed out. As he opened the portal to his room, an empty hallway was revealed to him. Of course it was empty.

She would be there to wait for him no longer.

Setting his jaw firmly he walked down the stairs and toward the front door, stopping at the archway to their living room.

Sky lay on the couch in a miserable pile. She had blankets draped over her shoulders and was nursing a mug of what looked like tea. Cronan thought about approaching, but when the swordswoman sniffed and let out a sigh he decided it was better to leave her alone. She too had a bond with the cat; Seravana had spent just as many nights with Sky as she had with her master. And of course the swordswoman had spoiled her whenever she could.

He strode out the door and turned right, heading for the tavern, he needed the drink. He passed by the alley next to his house without even looking, had he turned he would have seen Vlinn sitting on the ground, back resting against the wall. The half empty flagon next to him signified that he had similar thoughts as Cronan. The ex-beast tamer leaned his head against the outer wall of his home. His eyes moved slowly from side to side, taking in the clear night sky above him.

One star outshined all of the others around it and he was convinced that it had not been there before. And that was both a hurt and a comfort; she deserved to be in the sky. The burning matter above him was beautiful, a wonderful sight that only served to pain his already empty heart. Players and monsters died every day, here for a time that didn't even measure as a minute when compared to how long a star seemed to burn.

People died and the stars just lay in the air, like angels enveloped in their wings.

"Vlinn?" The young player turned his head to the entrance of the alley; Heathcliff stood there, his regal bearing enhanced by his heavy red and white plate armor. "What are you doing here?" Instead of answering Vlinn simply turned his head back to the stars.

"I was on my way to the tavern; Myujen has the best drinks you know…" Still the player did not answer the esteemed guild leader. "What is wrong?" He was met by silence for a brief moment…

"I lost someone important today." The guild leader grimaced, it was never an easy thing, he knew. Slowly he let himself slide down the wall until he sat beside the boy. He didn't bother saying anything; it would have done no good. "If I ever get a chance to meet Kayaba Akihiko…" Heathcliff glanced at the boy, waiting for him to spout some obscenity.

"I'm going to thank him, for giving her a chance to fly on angel wings."

"I think he would be pleasantly surprised." Heathcliff replied. The young player nodded knowingly, picking his mug up again.

"Happy birthday," Vlinn muttered quietly to himself, throwing the last of his drink back and hoping the older player had not heard him. If Heathcliff had, he did not show it.

 **A/N: Well that made me sad...if you want full effect whilst reading I suggest listening to Wings by Jeff Williams, it is part of the RWBY soundtrack and it's is just great in general. Wowww over 300 total views that is freakin' cool, if you guys want to leave some reviews i would greatly appreciate it, so thanks everybody!**


	23. A Short Intermission

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties. Much like the title implies this is a brief intermission from the main story detailing a small encounter with a friend of our main characters from the real world. Just in case I did not give you enough context clues.**

 ** _A Short Intermission_**

 ** _June 18_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 5:40 pm_**

She spread her sunset orange wings and took flight soaring over an ocean of green, the sea of pine and fir passed by as a singular blur, plant life seemingly blending together. Heading in a general western direction, the small brunette traced lazy patterns in the sky. Her objective lay in the city of Freelia the city of the Cait Sith. If she was lucky the meeting would be short, she could dump the stuff on Alicia and then be done for the day.

Today was not a good day. It hadn't been for a couple years now, the Cait Sith shook her head, clearing away the muddling thoughts. She felt claws tighten on her shoulder and she reached up to pat her familiar, Romeow. She felt the feline like creature purr, the rumbles in its chest being transferred through her arm. The Cait Sith slowed down and angled herself so her familiar could crawl into her arms.

Ninety percent of the cat was normal, just an average black and white cat, with a bit of elongated chin fur. Then you got to its head, where two very small goat-like horns sprouted from the beasts skull. Smiling the woman scratched her familiar between its horns, just like he liked. With the cat safely secured in her arms, the player accelerated again, determined to make it to the city before six o'clock.

She was off by four minutes. The short woman landed just inside the front gate of the city, scowling to herself. She thought she had gotten faster since the last time she had logged in, that was clearly not the case and here she was hoping she'd actually stand a chance next time she raced a Sylph.

"Well we'll just have to work on that won't we?" She asked, addressing her cat, which now prowled about the cobblestone streets. It meowed at her distractedly to which she replied in kind. Finally Romeow found what he was looking for, meowed at his mistress once and then pranced down a back alley, the player followed, tail flicking in anxiety. She felt her hand unconsciously move up to her head, still expecting to feel the helmet there, of course she wouldn't but it had been almost a year and she still hadn't broken the habit.

She had bought the Nervegear from a friend who had not been in SAO when the tragedy struck. He had sold it to her for a decent price considering there was no point in owning one anymore, the government wouldn't allow any kind of localization for virtual reality MMO's any longer. Of course she had still managed to procure a copy of Alfheim Online, although it was a Japanese copy.

ALO hadn't been localized due to the restraints on gaming, so the only copies available were imported but this wasn't a problem with the original Nervegears translation function, all the helmet had required was a simple download she found on the internet and then she was in.

At first she hadn't wanted to touch anything remotely related to virtual games, then she decided to try and see what he was seeing, what her friends saw every day.

And it was beautiful.

The Cait Sith gave herself a slight slap on her face, chasing the thoughts away yet again.

Just pick up the goods and go, she thought. And then I can log off and go to sleep or something. She continued following her cat familiar as it led her to the point where the meeting would take place. As the anxiety increased she found that her tail was almost thrashing wildly and her fists kept clenching and unclenching.

Before they arrived she pulled her small re-curve bow out of its sheath on her back and grabbed an arrow, holding it between her knuckles. Of course she was also proficient with a dagger which was the Cait Sith norm but she favored her bow more. It was more difficult to use on dragon back and her familiar was a support-type, if she wanted to use a ranged weapon it would have been better to have an attack-type pet. Still she insisted on her choice of weapon and when questioned why she would simply respond; "Because I like it." And it was something _they_ were supposed to do together.

Romeow waited for her at the entrance to a small cul-de-sac created by two buildings and the cities wall. She gave the cat a little nod and then entered, eyes darting back and forth suspiciously, the area was empty. Or so she initially thought until her familiar let out a loud hiss, she spun about, facing the spot her cat was pointing at.

"Well I know you're there now," She said loudly, knocking her arrow. "You may as well come out." At first she was met with only silence but after a few breaths the air in front of her shimmered and three players slowly came into view. Imps, for that was what they were as designated by the purple incorporated into their clothing, specialized in Dark magic. The most prominent spell being an invisibility charm.

"No need to point that thing at us," The leader chuckled, stepping forward. "We were just taking precautions, can't be too cautious these days." The Cait Sith grunted and slowly lowered her bow but left the arrow nocked. The Imp closest to the leader held an object in his hands, a small bell. However instead of being made of polished brass, it was of carved stone, on the sides were carved depictions of dragons in flight.

The item, she knew, was very important to her people. Alicia had told her that it could summon one of the most powerful tamable dragons in ALO and with that kind of fire power they could finally get some of the other races off of their backs and maybe get their trading partners to start taking them seriously.

"I see you brought the item." She said, gesturing at the bell with her bow. The Imp leader grunted in reply.

"Now where is our promised item?"

"Oh I have it," The Cait Sith replied non-chalantly. "But I want to cast a search and detection spell before I go waving it around. You'll excuse me if it seems like I don't trust you…I just don't trust you." A scowl crossed the man's face but he gestured for her to proceed. She shot her cat a glance, sending it a silent message, Romeow stared directly at the bell and flicked its tail once to signify that it understood.

Satisfied, the archer held her hand forward, bow and all, and allowed the sphere of magic glyphs to surround her.

"Ek fero telum!" The glyphs in front of her dispersed and the light re-accumulated, reforming as the Cait Sith symbol.

"Wait! That's not a-" But before any of the Imps could move she had fired her arrow straight at the bell, a golden thread trailing after it. As soon as the iron head touched the item she yanked back on the string, instantly teleporting the bell into her hand.

The arrow retrieval spell was her most used bit of magic, considering the cat burglar like assignments that Alicia provided her with. The spell had a rather heavy repercussion, your arrow could pull an object to you but your accuracy with a bow dropped to almost zero. Luckily Romeow made up for that with one of his support skills increasing her accuracy; as long as her cat could see an object, there was only a four percent chance that she would miss it.

"Thanks boys!" She called, slipping the bell into one of her secure pouches and sprinting up the nearby wall. Her familiar followed her easily as she kicked off of the wall, landed on the wall opposite her and then repeated the maneuver. The Imp leader followed her straight up the walls cursing the whole time.

"Come back you little-" The leader was cut off as the Cait Sith, who had been jumping to the next wall, twisted in mid-air and fired off an arrow straight for the man's face. At an almost point blank range the Imp could not react in anyway and simply fell to the cobblestone below, his body propelled by the arrow that now protruded from his skull.

"Sorry, we don't make deals with Imp's!" The woman called down as soon as her feet touched the roof of the building. She fired a few shots down into the Imps before taking off for the edge of the building at a sprint. She figured her wings had, had enough light exposure to regenerate some flight time, so she summoned her orange extensions with a subtle flex of her back muscles. As she reached the edge Romeow leapt into her arms and she launched herself into space.

Once she had enough air under her she rocketed forward, leaving the alley-ways far behind her. She angled herself west yet again and flew effortlessly toward the Cait Sith's capital building where she was expected. As soon as her feet touched the ground she changed course again, swinging left into the stable like building attached to the capital building.

As she walked the woman manipulated her menu, materializing a small handful of meat. She stopped at the fourth stall from the entrance.

"Gundar," She whispered and was rewarded with a rumbling from with the stall. A large scaled head poked through the space in the door that acted as a window. The dragon rumbled, almost purred, with pleasure at the sight of its mistress.

"Flying sugar-squirrel meat." She told him as she held out the meat to her mount. Ever so gently Gundar took the small morsel before throwing back its head, swallowing it whole and then pressing its head into her stomach again.

"I'll be back tomorrow," She promised the lizard, giving it a scratch behind the first ridge on its head. With that she turned and headed into the capital building, leaving Gundar to his own devices. The woman scowled, tail curling in displeasure, she hated that name, but Alicia had insisted that dragons responded better to names that started with the hard guh sound. Annoyingly enough he responded best to that name specifically. Before long the archer found herself in front of her leader's office. She offered one loud knock before simply walking in, she was greeted by the short, tan, unintimidating girl that represented their entire race.

"You're back!" The shorter of the two sang, leaning over her desk. "Well? How did it go?" The archer raised an eyebrow at her, reached into one of the pouches on her belt and tossed the stone bell to her leader. Alicia caught it easily and examined it, tail twitching excitedly.

"Yes, yes, yes!" She sang, practically quivering. "This is it, wonderful job!"

"I aim to please," The lower ranking Cait Sith replied. "May I leave now?"

"Of course, of course!" Alicia offered, as the archer turned to go her leader offered a few more words. "Please try to enjoy yourself this year, alright?" The woman didn't offer an answer, simply walked out, following the hallways until she found the door that lead outside.

She didn't know why she kept playing, she had experienced what they might possibly be seeing, and it was not like she held any sort of affection for her race. Excluding Alicia perhaps, as irritating as that girl could be she had become a very close friend to the archer. But there were plenty of other Cait Sith that could probably do the jobs her leader gave her.

Not as well as me, she thought smugly, a slight smirk spreading over her lips. Regardless she didn't think that was why she continued to play; she didn't even like video games that much.

A distraction.

That was the most probable answer, when she was here, flying through the sky or fighting alongside her race, the real world and memories could disappear for a moment. The woman sighed, pressing the thoughts away.

All she needed to do now was find an inn to log out in and she could finally just go to sleep and forget that today even existed. Although she really wasn't tired…perhaps she would visit the hospital, of course that had been her intent all along, but she could pretend otherwise for the moment. She stroked her familiar and slowly tilted her head back to gaze at the stars that dotted the dark sky.

Maybe it was her imagination but one star seemed to outshine the rest and for some reason that made her feel sad.


	24. Man Up

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Man Up_**

 ** _July 1_** ** _st_** ** _, 2024 1:13 pm_**

Cronan grasped Vlinn by the scruff of his neck and flung him behind the taller player. The blacksmith brought his sword to bear, blocking the brunt of the force provided by the skeleton in front of him.

"Damn it," The male players heard behind them. "Not again, Vlinn!" The short figure shrouded in dark supple armor leapt over Cronan drawing the Battle Bones attention for a moment, her gently curving Momo no Hana turned aside the monsters less than elegant scimitar. With the pressure off of him for a moment the warrior-blacksmith planted his large blade in the arid, cracked ground and brought his fist up, letting a violent yellow glow brighten it.

He took a step forward, attracting the monsters attention and when the creature turned toward him he let his fist fly. The sudden heavy impact separated the bleached head from the rest of its body and within seconds the monsters entirety was floating upward as blue polygon shards.

Sky whirled around, aiming a withering glare at the ill-equipped speedster that was slowly picking himself up off the ground.

"What?" Vlinn snapped, dusting off his low-level armor, not for the first time he found himself lamenting the loss of his equipment…among other things.

"You said you could keep up," The guild leader accused, narrowing her eyes. Behind her Cronan noticed her fist clench dangerously, tightening her grip on the hilt of her katana. The warrior grimaced as if he could hear the poor weapons durability dropping.

"And?" Vlinn sheathed his saber roughly, he favored the weapon with a sneer, its stats were terrible! Upon appraisal Cronan had informed him that it was a simple S1D1 weapon. On the appraisal screen all of the weapons stats and effects were written out, however most players abbreviated them to save time, so they would put the first letter of the attribute followed by the buff it provided. In the sabers case it was merely Sharpness +1 and Durability +1 with no additional effects that usually came with a weapon such as an addition to one of his stats like strength or agility.

The most insulting part was that this weapon didn't even come with a proper scabbard or even a leather sheath. Instead it sat in a sword-frog tied to his belt, the naked blade often bumping into him as he walked. After the _incident_ he had expected Cronan to craft him new equipment but Sky had forbidden it, insisting that he needed to get himself grounded before he could rely on high performance weaponry.

The ex-beast tamer and guild leader continued their stare-off while Cronan stood awkwardly to the side, examining the cliff faces around them. They were in the dungeon of the fifty-fifth floor which portrayed itself as a wasteland, which made little sense considering the main city was atop beautiful, rolling, meadows.

"Four times," Sky said finally, slowly sheathing her weapon. "We've had to save your ass four times." Vlinn looked away from her, grinding his teeth together, the last thing he needed right now was a lecture from the midget.

"Pay attention!" She snapped, narrowing her eyes again. "You swore to me you could keep up, you said this wouldn't affect your fighting."

"It's not-"

"Bullshit!" Vlinn's eyes widened slightly, this was the first time he had ever heard the swordswoman speak like this. "It's not just about you! With your sloppy fighting you're putting Cronan and I in danger too!" Cronan's mouth opened as if he was about to speak but upon seeing Sky's clenched fist he thought better of it and promptly closed his jaw with a distinctive, SNAP!

"It's fine," the speedster continued, trying his hardest not to let the anger seep into his voice. "I just need time to catch up."

"You've had time. It's been two weeks and you've done nothing but sit around and feel sorry for yourself. It hurt us too, but we have jobs to do. We have a death game to survive and it's a lot harder to keep breathing when our third can't watch our backs."

"I'll keep up." He replied, looking away, avidly aware of the hurt that was evident in his mannerisms.

"Well not today you won't. Take a teleportation crystal and go home." Sky left no room for argument as she turned on her heel and made for the next area of the dungeon. Holding in a snarl Vlinn wrenched a Teleportation Crystal out of the simple leather pouch on his belt and held it up.

"Teleport, Myujen!" With a bright flash of light the player was gone. Cronan stood in place for a moment glancing between where Vlinn had just been and Sky's retreating form.

"Well, damn," He said, uttering his first word in the entire argument. With a sigh he turned and followed after his guild leader.

Tension stayed high in the house for the next couple days, both players attempting to stay out of each other's way with poor Cronan stuck in the middle. Thankfully on the second day since Vlinn's dismissal from field work the guild received a message from Thinker informing them that he wished to meet with them at their maisonette. After they sent their reply he was knocking on their door within the hour, Yulier present at his side, per usual.

"Let's just skip the small talk," Sky said as she offered the two of them cups of tea. "What do you need?"

"Well I suppose I could do away with our normal playful banter just this once," The leader of the army said. "I don't need anything from the Oath Keepers yet, but I will." Cronan raised an eyebrow and exchanged glances with Sky, who gestured for Thinker to continue.

"If you have been reading the paper then I'm sure you are aware of Laughing Coffins rampage." Three different sets of teeth were set on edge, they were perfectly aware of the red guild. Laughing coffin had established itself sometime last year but they waited until New Year's Eve to make themselves known. They had slaughtered a small guild that night and word spread the next day (New Year's Day). From there they had continued to spread violence and death, currently their known kill count numbered in the hundreds.

"Well, there was a meeting of the major clearing guilds and by unanimous vote it was decided that Laughing Coffin needs to be shut down." Thinker's normally jovial face seemed to be set in granite, the playful twinkle in his eye non-existent.

"And you want _us_ to take care of the entire red guild?" Cronan asked incredulously. "There's like thirty of them." Thinker waved his hand at Cronan in a placating gesture.

"Of course not, we don't even know where they hold their base; we have one spy looking into it for us right now."

"One of Kibaou's," Yulier supplied. "Kibaou assures us he does good work." At this Sky stiffened slightly and raised an eyebrow at the two players in front of her.

"We're here to ask if you'll join the battle once we find them. The Knights of Blood are calling it a crusade."

"You want us to join in a war?" Sky said skeptically.

"Well, The Aincrad Liberation Force would be willing to pay you."

"Why do you need us?" Cronan asked. "You have more than enough players; you could probably just overwhelm them with numbers." At this Thinker gave a nervous smile and glanced away from the guild of mercenaries.

"Uh, you see we're still trying to re-group, surprisingly it's taking a lot of time to get our forces fully organized. And besides, they are requesting only high-level players and Clearers, we may have numbers but we have few high-levels." Vlinn snorted loudly, his first contribution to the conversation and Sky silenced him with a glare.

The ex-beast tamer held her gaze for a moment before turning away and giving a dismissive shrug.

"It would be great if civilian players could rest easy inside towns again." Cronan offered, glancing at his guild leader. She nodded slowly, mulling the idea over in her head. The entire situation was dangerous and it would be fool hardy to put her friends and herself in danger like that.

But how many lives could they save if they ended Laughing coffin? Slowly Sky began nodding her head.

"Alright, we'll consider it, but first, is there any other information you can give us?"

"Just one, you remember the guild we asked you to take care of on the sixty second floor?" Sky and Cronan narrowed their eyes and behind them Vlinn could be heard grinding his teeth together violently. "Well the guild leader that escaped has been sighted with known Laughing Coffin members. So it's a safe bet that he has joined that guild."

"We'll do it." Vlinn said lowly, aiming his deathly glare at Thinker. "If you can promise me that player, then we're in." Thinker studied the speedster briefly before shaking his head.

"I can't guarantee anything, the only thing I can promise is there is a very good chance that he will be there."

"And that's good enough for me."

After finishing their tea and ironing out the details of payment the two army players bade the mercenaries a good day, telling Sky that they would be keeping in touch with her for the next couple of weeks.

After the door closed Sky spun around to find Vlinn equipping his saber and low-level light armor.

"Thanks for discussing that decision with us," Cronan said sarcastically, a small smile played at the corner of his lips. Sky however favored Vlinn with a stoic stare.

"I hadn't realized I was speaking for you until it was too late, I'm sorry." Vlinn muttered, filtering through his inventory. Once he was satisfied that everything was in order he made his way to the door.

"Where are you going?" Sky asked.

"To train," came the simple answer causing Sky's eyes to narrow.

"Well I'm glad revenge becomes priority over the safety of your friends." That gave Vlinn cause to wait. Silence followed Sky's statement briefly.

"I am sorry," He said finally keeping his eyes locked on the door in front of him. "You were right, I've had my head shoved up my ass for the last two weeks now and I have been putting you two in danger. It won't happen again. I'll get strong again." He went to push the door open but stopped when he felt a small hand come to rest on his should.

"You can start tomorrow," Sky offered him a small smile. "I am sorry too." Vlinn grinned at her and loud sniff from behind them caught their attention. Cronan sniffed again and wiped away an imaginary tear.

"I'm sorry, I am just _so_ happy right now," Sky chuckled and Vlinn rolled his eyes attempting to keep the smile off of his face.

That night Vlinn laid in his bed examining Sera's Fang and the mask that Siraya had made him. The demonic looking mask had been stored safely in the chest at the foot of his bed the night he had died and it, along with some health potions and miscellaneous quest items, was the only piece of equipment he had left.

On the ground floor the other two were making preparations for the coming weeks of hardship. In the space designated for Cronan's smithy the warrior smashed his blacksmith's hammer down on a glowing ingot, slowly shaping it into a weapon. Once this was completed he would move on to the next item and then the next one. Once he ran out of materials he would sell the items, use the Col to buy more materials and then repeat the process until all of his blacksmithing skills were maxed, which he was not far from at the moment.

In the kitchen Sky poured over ingredients with swift proficiency, mashing plants into a fine powder, stirring the bubbling pot full of liquid and arranging all of the potion bottles she had acquired.

Luckily for her the bazaar had come back this week and so she had taken the opportunity to stock up on the ingredients she needed, she also took the time to visit the local seamstress and ordered three large bags which currently sat on the kitchen table.

The next morning Sky and Vlinn headed for the teleportation gate, leaving Cronan to continue his skill leveling.

"Teleport, Granzam!" Sky said once they reached the gate, Vlinn mimicked her and both players were enveloped in light. When their vision returned they found themselves in the heart of the Steel city. Granzam was full of blacksmiths both NPC and player, which helped contribute to the name. The city differed from all others in that it was inhabited with tall black towers that stretched up toward the bottom of the floor above them.

The friends had only been on this floor a few times, when the Knights of Blood had hired the Oath Keepers, and those few times they had foregone the sight-seeing. This trip was no different; Sky strode out of the city purposefully with Vlinn in tow. The landscape changed abruptly from green meadow to barren canyon as she led the way into the floors dungeon.

"If we're going to train in the dungeon why not just go up to the front-lines?" Vlinn asked quietly, glancing at the canyon walls suspiciously. Instead of answering Sky waved him away and lead him further into the dungeon. The speedster scowled but followed obediently, his hand resting uneasily on the pommel of his saber.

Eventually, when they were good and deep into the dangerous territory the small player came to a stop in front of a small crevice that was carved into the tall walls of the canyon. Without a word she slid herself into the small space and began inching deeper into the wall. Vlinn grimaced as he inspected the small crack that she expected him to fit into, unfortunately she had not slowed, so he sucked his gut in and wedged himself into the crevice.

The fracture in the wall opened up into a large smooth-walled circular chamber in which Sky was waiting as Vlinn finally popped himself out. She gave him a moment to gape at the secret area before leading him toward the southern wall. Vlinn followed her continuing to stare as large, grey skinned, human shaped creatures stalked through the room and into the hallway that branched out toward the north.

"How did you find this place?" Vlinn breathed, gripping the hilt of his sword. "And why are we not being attacked by these…things?" The guild leader favored him with a raised eyebrow and a wry smile.

"Unlike you I actually train, I found this place with my search skill a while ago when I was out here by myself. And the monsters are only aggressive if you attack them."

"So I'm going to be fighting these things?" Sky snorted loudly and shook her head.

"Goodness no, these trolls would wreck you. No you're going to build up to them." Vlinn favored the swordswoman with a scowl and then focused his gaze on the nearest monster. Eventually his targeting system locked onto it and brought up the creatures name and healthbar, Hermit Troll. Sky tapped him on the shoulder, dragging his focus from the monster and then signaled for him to follow her.

Wooden practice dummies were set up along the southern wall, most of them had signs of wear and damaged that implied that the trolls used them, of course they didn't, it was only to add to the lore and the visual effect.

"These dummies actually give you experience, granted it's not a lot, it's quite minimal compared to what you could get from a monster, but they don't hit back and they don't break. So you can keep swinging until you level up and then keep swinging after that."

"So that's it? I just stay here for the day wasting my swords durability on these things." As he spoke Sky was already shaking her head.

"They don't affect weapon durability. And you're not coming home." She said simply. Vlinn blinked twice and then dug his pinky into his ear before responding.

"I'm sorry could you say that again, I think I had some wax in my ear."

"You're staying here until you're ready."

"And how is that going to work," Vlinn asked, scowling at the short woman. She smiled at him and brought up her menu, after a few minutes of rifling through her inventory she found the desired item and materialized it between the two of them. In a small ball of light a leather satchel formed in front of the players. Vlinn briefly examined it before glancing at his guild mate skeptically. She gestured for him to open it and after an exaggerated sigh he obliged.

Vlinn unbuckled and threw back the top flap revealing a multitude of potion bottles filled with red and green liquids; health and stamina potions. Before he could speak a trade request window sprang to life in front of him, he accepted and watched as sky put up almost sixty units of bread.

"Here's the deal." Sky said, as he accepted the food. "Two meals a day at noon and eight. Fight until you get tired, drink a stamina potion and then start fighting again, rinse, repeat, level. Go to bed at midnight, wake up at six, and make sure you set your alarm. Train on the dummies until you think you are ready to fight the trolls. Be warned they will all attack you once you harm one of them and they _are_ strong, so be absolutely sure you can take them." Vlinn blinked and opened his mouth to say something but seemed to think better of it and instead nodded.

"Got all of that?" His leader asked and he nodded again. "Alright, good luck, get strong." With that Sky pulled a teleportation crystal out of the small leather pouch on her belt and left for Myujen in a bright flash of light, leaving Vlinn alone in a cave full of trolls and dummies.

The ex-beast tamer took a minute to examine the practice dummies before gripping his sword determinedly and wrenching it out of the frog. If this was what it took to get stronger so be it.


	25. The Proper Materials

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties. Whoa double update? Whaaaaaaaaat?**

 ** _The Proper Materials_**

 ** _July 4_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 11:08 am_**

 ****It had been about a day since Sky and Vlinn had marched off and after working throughout that day, with a brief break for lunch, and long into the night Cronan had finally pushed past the one level barrier that had previously blocked all of his smithing skills from being fully mastered… and by fully mastered he meant in the nine hundred section. Regardless he had been filled with a feeling of accomplishment…and tiredness but mostly accomplishment. Not many of the smiths had leveled _all_ of the blacksmithing skills that far, not even Lisbeth, so he was among an elite few, maybe after the battle he would open up a shop.

He had immediately dismissed the idea, even if he and Lisbeth were close she had a surprisingly competitive side when it came to business and he wouldn't have been surprised if he had woken up one morning to find all of his ore and metals completely destroyed or stolen.

After getting some much needed sleep, the warrior-smith was on the move again on a new errand. Unfortunately for him he didn't have the luxury to go off and train for weeks on end, he had an actual job to do that he and his guild leader had discussed at length. Thankfully Liz had no plans for the next few days and she was always in the mood for a little adventure…or so Cronan had thought.

"Please!" He pleaded for the seventh time. "I'll treat you to whatever food you want and I'll take care of all the supplies."

"Trust me when I say I have had enough adventure to last me for a while." The small pink haired girl replied. "It's barely been a week since my last outing, which was by no means fun!"

"It can't have been that bad," The warrior said innocently, throwing a disarming smile her way. Her scowl deflected it easily.

"I _rode_ a dragon hundreds of feet in the air and no, I didn't actually ride it, I held on for dear life while it took _me_ for a ride." The small blacksmith turned her attention back to the sword, a two-handed straight sword, which she was currently sharpening. Cronan blew out a sigh and leaned against the nearest sword rack, tapping his fingers on his forearm in anxiety. "Where would we even need to go for these materials? Not that I am interested."

She paused in her work for a moment to glance up at her tall friend, eyebrow raised expectantly.

"A dragon's nest…" The warrior mumbled, suddenly becoming very interested in the blacksmith's stove. Liz fixed the taller blacksmith with an irritated expression before setting down the sword and moving toward the front of store. "It's really not as bad as it sounds!" Cronan called after her.

"You're right; it's only a dragon, the strongest non-boss monsters in the game." She had moved behind her counter and was flipping through her book of sales.

"I wouldn't say the strongest," Cronan mumbled, thinking of writhing pitch black tentacles and shuddering. "With the two of us it should be fine."

"Just the two of us, against a dragon?" She asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at him. Cronan nodded enthusiastically, smiling all the while. The owner of the shop found herself sighing heavily, something about that warrior just seemed to synchronize a little too closely with her. "It's just the one dragon right?"

"Yes!" The warrior-smith said, realizing that she was finally breaking down. "And then there's the mountain beast and I wanted to check out the mines on the twenty seventh floor." Silence filled the store as Cronan smiled widely at the pink-haired woman and she in turn, stared back incredulously.

"Just how much free time do you think I have!? I have customers flooding my shop everyday wanting their crap fixed or strengthened!" Lisbeth cried, flinging her arms to the side, Cronan glanced at the completely empty room but wisely chose to stay silent. "I have work to do and you just sweep in and expect me to drop everything and go gallivanting off with you."

Much to the blacksmiths annoyance Cronan answered with another smile.

A few hours later the blacksmithing duo found themselves in the wilderness of the fiftieth floor, working their way through a shallow mountain pass.

"Why do I let myself get dragged into these situations," The slight hammer-wielder sighed.

"Because you love me!" Cronan answered ahead of her, fighting the rising blush in her cheeks the pink-haired woman only growled in response.

"I still don't understand why we don't just go get materials from the white dragon on the fifty-fifth floor." Liz shouted as a gust of wind suddenly channeled itself through the passage, the tall player waited for the wind to die down before replying.

"From what you told me about the stats it gave it wouldn't work out too well."

"Who are the materials for?"

"Vlinn, he focuses on agility, sprinting and charging skills, prefers curved swords."

"Katana?" Liz asked distractedly as she ran through the stats of the sword she had made for _that_ player barely a week ago. Cronan shook his head, suddenly wondering why the ex-beast tamer had never equipped the Katana skill. "The Crystalline Ingots from the white dragon should have worked perfectly for him; two of the buffs it gave were in agility and 'running', which I assumed was connected to the sprint skill."

"I know," The warrior replied, pausing to rest against a rock and give Liz a chance to catch up. "But you left out how much the sword weighed, you said the player had a high Strength stat and the Extended Weight Limit skill."

"Yes," She replied as she finally came to stand by Cronan, after a brief pause they began their trek once again. "I had forgotten about the weight, it was about one fifty." Cronan grunted in acknowledgement as they finally came to the end of the path and were awarded a full view of their destination, the oddly blackened mountain in the middle of the valley.

"Well Vlinn's strength stat isn't high enough to let him wield something like that properly." Liz nodded distractedly as she took in the view.

"Why is that mountain black?"

"It's covered in soot and ash." Cronan replied before continuing on toward it. The trek wasn't very long as the game had been kind enough to provide a fairly level path to the mountain. It was the climb up that proved difficult as the path was littered with lizard-like creatures that were as tall as sheep. They did not prove to be much individually, but groups of them were a hindrance that Cronan really did not want to deal with at the moment.

The warrior-smith roared as his massive sword swung in an arc clearing the last few of the latest group the duo had encountered. With a sigh Lisbeth brought her one-handed war hammer to rest on her shoulder.

"It's been getting hotter," She complained, tugging at the neckline of her maid uniform, Cronan grunted as he slowly sheathed his huge sword.

"The next corner should bring us to the top," He said already beginning to move, Liz suppressed a groan and followed along. As they rounded the last corner of the mountain path the sight before them drew a slight gasp from the small blacksmith.

Before them lay a perfect circle of black landscape, solidified magma, the volcano, for that was what the mountain truly was, seemed to have went dormant long ago. Long enough for the entire top of it to solidify to the point where it would hold the wait of the large monster that slept in the middle of its circumference.

Atop a pile of gold and treasure lay a red dragon; Lisbeth's targeting system focused in on the creature, bringing up its name and healthbar. She did not bother looking at the long multi-lined bars as that would only serve to discourage her; instead she slowly read the name out loud.

"Rhageneous," She muttered glancing at Cronan. The warrior nodded slowly, drawing his sword and offering her a reassuring smile. "On the bright side it's not as big as the white one."

"It shouldn't be as strong as that white one you fought, but we should still keep our guard up. Are you ready?" The small blacksmith slowly blew out her pent up breath and brought her hammer to bear.

"After you," She offered, smiling mischievously, Cronan returned the grin and charged the red wyrm, roaring a challenge to the beast. Liz gaped after him, mentally smacking herself. _Why didn't we try and sneak up on it?_ Worrying about it was no use now so she charged after her friend, brandishing her hammer.

The commotion brought Rhageneous out of its slumber just as Cronan had reached it and was swinging his sword down. Cronan's newest "throw-away blade" Heavy Steel bit into the red dragon's snout eliciting a pained roar from the beast. It worked its wings vigorously, buffeting Cronan with strong winds that, despite his heavy equipment, threw him several tens of yards backwards.

Liz let out a small squeak as her heavily armored companion almost landed on top of her. The blacksmith sprang to the side, avoiding him and then dashed forward, intent on making it to the monster before it could regain its composure. Of course this was no normal monster they were facing; this was a dragon.

Rhageneous roared in outrage as the small player approached his treasure, the beast lashed out at her, its obsidian colored claws gleamed dully in the fading sunlight. Lisbeth ground her teeth together determinedly, this time she would be of use. As the claws sheared through the air toward her she planted her left foot, held her hammer out to the side and twisted her upper body around as if she was winding up.

The head of her hammer glowed a vivid lime-green and as the monsters sharp extremities entered her hit box she released the skill, untwisting her body and letting the hammer fly. The silver head of her weapon collided with the dragon's middle claw and the impact caused it the claws to deviate from their previous path.

Unfortunately the blacksmith was sent flying backward, head over heels. She attempted in vain to keep her skirt aligned properly as she finally came to a stop on top of the hot surface. She leapt up as the heat began to eat away at her health points.

Meanwhile Cronan had taken advantage of the opening she had given him and charged under Rhageneous' leg before the lizard could correct itself. As he reached the dragons head he too planted his foot and pulled his sword back to the side, much like Lisbeth. However, as similar as the movements were, the results differed; both movements activated a high-level single hit sword skill but Lisbeth's skill would stop once it hit the opponent. Cronan's on the other hand would continue, turning a one-hit skill into a potential multi-hit sword skill…in theory.

As the orange glow collected on the warrior's sword a similar glow was emitting from within the dragons maw. Flames were beginning to crackle at the back of Rhageneous' throat; Cronan growled and hoped he could actually pull off more than one hit with Cyclone. He released the skill and the system took control of his body, spinning him 360 degrees and bringing the sword down on the beast's snout again.

The blade bit into the dragon's metallic scales and then stuck fast. The warrior had not fully accounted for the high defense that the scales would afford the beast. Rhageneous snarled and began to release its flames.

 _Well, that worked out better in my head._ Before either player or dragon could react a sharp cry erupted from the warrior's right. Liz brought her blue glowing hammer down on top of Cronan's blade, driving it deeper into the monsters snout and effectively slamming its mouth shut as the fire began to lick out of its mouth.

The dragon rumbled in displeasure as its life dropped continually from the flames inside its mouth.

"You would think it would be fire proof on the inside too." Liz commented, bringing her hammer into another offensive stance. Cronan opened his mouth to reply only to be cut off by the sound of polygons erupting into the air. He spun around in time to see his sword breaking into blue shards and floating away.

Three sets of jaws dropped, the two blacksmiths…and the dragon. Cronan had enough time to shoot an accusing glare at Lisbeth.

"Are you kidding me?!" He shouted as a stream of flames enveloped his body completely.

"Cronan!" Lisbeth screamed, swinging her hammer at the side of Rhageneous' snout, snapping its head to the side and ending its breath of flame. The dragon snorted loudly, it was _really_ getting sick of getting hit on the nose.

The blacksmith's attention was diverted momentarily by a faint green glow, Liz spun around to find Cronan crushing a healing crystal and dropping a potion bottle that still had one drop of light blue liquid. _Heat resistance potion?!_

"It's a really good thing that this is a game," The warrior commented before digging into the pouch on his belt and pulling out a health potion. "P.s, our friend is pretty angry." Cronan threw back the bottle as he pointed behind her.

Liz spun around again finding herself face to face with a pissed off lizard. Glaring at the dragon, Lisbeth raised her hammer above her head activating Boulder Smash. Once the dull gold light fixed itself to the head of her hammer she let the skill go. With a war cry that was less than intimidating the blacksmith brought her weapon down on one of the creature's large claws, shattering it.

Rhageneous roared out in pain, flapping its wings weakly, on the one hand; it wasn't his snout. On the other; it still hurt like hell and he was sick of it. The dragon snarled as he strengthened his wing beats and began to slowly rise into the air.

"Oh, no you don't," Cronan sneered, dashing toward the rising monster. His agility stat was almost non-existent but thanks to the dragons low health it was having trouble getting airborne. Thankfully it was close enough to the solidified magma field where Cronan could still leap up and grab ahold of one of the red dragons many facial horns.

With a growl Cronan heaved himself onto the dragon's snout, close to its eyes and brought his arm back. His fingers stood rigid and a yellow glow blazed to life around his hand, with a roar Cronan drove his firm hand into Rhageneous' eye. The beast cried out in pain and gave up on its attempt to get airborne, allowing itself to crash back to earth.

Before it could shake its head to rid itself of the unwanted passenger, Cronan brought his other arm back in the same movement as his previous skill, he stabbed his arm into the dragons remaining eye and with a dying roar Rhageneous exploded into thousands of polygon shards, dropping Cronan unceremoniously to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Lisbeth's concerned face drifted into view, before the warrior-smith could answer two small screens sprang to life in front of them. Grinning, Cronan gave her a thumbs up as he scanned down the list of items; several Crimson Dragon Scales and a few Dragon Bones that could be used to make weapons.

"One down, two to go," He said grinning at his pink-haired friend. She answered him with a glare and a sigh before collapsing down next to him.

"Why did I volunteer for this?"

"Because you love me," He smiled, to which she sighed once more. Slowly Cronan's arm drifted toward his right shoulder where the hilt of his blade should have been. When his hand grasped air he shot a glare at Lisbeth again. "Seriously?!"

She gave him a slight shrug before digging through the dragons treasure pile, as she shifted aside a large portrait the massive amount of gold coins began to tumble down in a miniature avalanche. In the depression left behind the blacksmith spied the corner of an ingot poking through the mass of coins.

A little digging was enough to pry the bar free and upon examination she realized she had no idea what she was looking at.

"Any idea what kind of metal this is?" She tossed the bar to the taller player.

"You forget how to look at names?" Cronan arched an eyebrow at her, which was met with a glare.

"I can read the name; I just haven't ever seen that before."

"It's Quick-silver," He said without opening the items menu. "I've been collecting these since the first floor. I got the first one from Sir- from a friend."

"Are they just random drops?" Lizbeth asked, ignoring his abrupt change of wording. She was answered with a shrug.

"No idea, but I bet there's more in the pile help me look." Liz followed after the warrior with a sigh.

"How much more do we have to do?"

"I haven't decided yet, how many dragon mini bosses have been discovered." The blacksmith had to fight to stifle her groan.


	26. The Messenger

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _The Messenger_**

 ** _July 5_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 3:17 pm_**

She had received the message barely five minutes after helping Cronan and Lizbeth slay the Iron Wyvern that had been roaming the mountains of the fifty second floor. It was the first monster that the game had produced that roamed outside of a specified zone. And as can be assumed, tracking it down had been a _bitch_.

When they had found it she had expected something a little more…wyvern-y? The creature looked like a wyvern, with its dragon-like appearance and wings that attached to its two-clawed forelimbs. However, the outer scales of the beast gleamed like pure metal and upon striking it with her katana; Sky had found that it was damn near the same consistency.

But the parts of its appearance that threw her off were the sizes of its wings and tail. Both were miniscule compared to what they should have been. Its wings were not fit for flight and its tail was barely visible.

"If it can't fly then how is this thing so hard to find?" Liz had asked; moments later they were answered when the monster burrowed underground at the same speed that Sky could run. After that the battle had been long and drawn out with Cronan striking the finishing blow with his fists, when Sky commented that it would have been easier with his sword he had only ignored her and shot a withering glare at Liz.

After the rewards had been collected Sky took her leave as the two blacksmiths had continued their journey on to the twenty seventh floor. And then Thinker had sent her the message which she opened with a sigh, why couldn't everybody just leave her alone? She scanned down the message screen, sticking her tongue out in disgust.

 _'_ _We have tried contacting the leader of Laughing Coffin but the last two messengers we sent never came back…We sent soldiers to the Monument of the Life and the messengers deaths were confirmed. We're going to try one more time most of the Clearing Guilds that are involved are sending body guards with this last attempt…We're sending you!_ _J_ _I understand the rest of your guild is busy so try and make some new friends! The group is leaving at 7:00 am tomorrow morning. Meet with them at the teleportation gate on the fifty fifth floor. You will receive the first half of your payment on arrival, thanks!_

The guild leader scowled down at the message in front of her, _a smiley face, real professional._ With a less than lady like snort Sky dismissed the message and then reached into the pouch on her belt and produced a teleportation crystal.

"Teleport, Myujen"

With Cronan out on his material collecting assignment and Vlinn training, sleeping or dead…Sky quickly pulled up her Guild menu and checked Vlinn's status, nope still alive. With no one around for the night Sky found herself sitting in front of the fire place sipping tea quietly and reading that day's new paper. The quiet that lay through the house, while at first had been a blessing, soon started to become almost ominous.

Eventually with nothing to do and with her own maisonette starting to freak her out, Sky thought it best to go to bed. Even with the horror movie like silence she was thankfully for some quiet time to herself.

The next morning came quickly and the small Guild leader found herself sitting on one of the wooden benches that sat in a ring around Granzam's teleportation gate. Sky spotted several heavy armored players loitering around the gate; she could only assume they were part of the forward group.

All heads swiveled when the sound of steel boots clicked on the cobblestone street. Two players, both dressed in the red and white of the Knights of Blood, made their way to the teleportation gate and stood, staring at the players expectantly. One by one the group slowly formed in front of the gate, once the apparent leader was satisfied at their numbers she hopped up on one of the many benches.

"Greetings," The slight girl said her smooth voice, though light, carried authority. "I am Ari, lieutenant to the sub-leader of the Knights of Blood. I'm assuming that you all know why you are here, so we'll just do some quick introductions and be on our way." She gestured at the man that stood beside her. He was short, only slightly taller than the woman he had arrived with but he bore his heavy plate armor proudly.

"I am Matsui of the KoB I am also the messenger, please take care of me." From him the introductions moved clockwise to a tall well-muscled man who also bore heavy armor.

"I am Karashu of The Raging Bulls."

"Shock-tee, formerly of the KoB." A slender woman said, she wore no armor, opting instead for tight fitting clothing. A whip sat loosely on her belt and Sky watched as the woman's hand drifted toward it, at the same time a flicker of indignation crossed the group leader's eyes. Sky grimaced and foreseeing a confrontation, stepped forward coughing lightly.

"Sky of the Oath Keepers," She dipped her head once in a mock bow and then stepped back letting the final player announce himself.

"I am Molokov," The burly man said. His silver armor bore a guild mark on his breast; the mark was also present on the man's kite shield. He pointed at the seal, a sword crossed behind three stars. "I represent the Celestial Knights." Ari glanced around the group to make sure everyone had a chance to have their say and that everyone had joined her party before pointing at the teleportation gate.

"We have an appointment with a player on the twenty second floor on the south side of the smallest lake." With that she strode over to the teleportation gate, spoke her destination and disappeared in a flash of light. The others followed her example and soon the fifty fifth floors central plaza was once again silent.

Once the last player's foot had touched Coral's, the main settlement, cobblestone streets Ari had immediately ushered them out of the town and toward the south. As they traveled hands found their way to weapons. The messenger was placed in the middle of the group, which had formed a circular formation around him.

The party made their way south through heavily wooded trails, Molokov, the silver knight, made mention of the trails, expressing his curiosity.

"There is a forest quest within these woods," Ari answered, eyes darting around nervously. Sky followed her example, this forest was a fantastic spot to plant an ambush and of course there was a saying that all the players shared; _if it looks like a nice place for an ambush…it probably is._ Not the catchiest phrase but it stuck regardless and so the sound of weapons loosening in their scabbards assailed the lightly armored leader of the Oath Keepers.

Fortunately the party soon found themselves clear of the overbearing trees and into cool open air. The lake was in clear view on their right and the clear flatland afforded them a view of their destination.

The southern tip of the that lake was the farthest point from all the villages and it was even more isolated by the confusing twisting trails that one would have to take to get there. The entire southern point was a stone peninsula that pierced almost to the middle of the body of water.

As the group approached, several figures soon became apparent at the end of the rocky pier. Ari brought the group to a stop about halfway onto the rocks and then took a few more steps herself.

"Last I checked we agreed on two of you!" She called to the cloaked figured. The Laughing Coffin Representatives chuckled and the sound echoed over the water and against the trees on either side of the lake.

"Last I checked, we weren't bound by _any_ agreement with you," The tallest figure called back. Ari glowered at the assassin and her hand drifted to the hilt of her rapier. Matsui stepped next to her and placed his hand on the woman's shoulder.

"I believe negotiations are my job," He said softly, smiling at Ari. The woman glared at their enemies but she let her hand drop from the blade. With the KoB lieutenant subdued for the moment the messenger stepped forward, holding his hands out to the side. "Hello!" He called softly.

"Say what you have to say," The assassin spat, eliciting more laughter from his group.

"We are here to discuss terms of a peaceable surrender," Matsui continued calmly. "There have been a lot of pointless deaths and we want no more." One of the other assassins snorted loudly.

"It's just a game! What does it matter if a couple people are logged out?"

"You know very well that you don't log out," Ari shouted, hand once again flying to her sword.

"And you don't know if they die or not," At this the figure chuckled again. "Unless you're brave enough to find out."

"I'm going to assume negotiations have already broken down," The ex-KoB member muttered next to Sky. Her slender arm moved to her whip and she let it slowly uncoil, the party around her moved similarly and Sky found herself slipping one of her throwing knives into her hand.

"We are here to talk, not fight." Matsui said, trying to regain a semblance of order.

" _You_ might have come here to talk." The tallest cloaked figure said. "However, we didn't come here for a brawl. We had assumed you idiots would just send the messenger by himself again. Oh well, we'll just be on our way." And with that the cloaked players each pulled out a blue crystal.

"Shit," Sky hissed and instantly focused on the front most enemy, willing the targeting system to pick up his hand. She brought her arm back, collecting a yellow glow on her throwing knife.

"Teleport-" The system took over Sky's movements and she found herself extending her arm and flicking her wrist in one swift, fluid motion. Instead of piercing the player's hand Sky's knife drove into the crystal, knocking it out of the player's grasp. Several flashes of light signified the other players of Laughing Coffin safely evacuating. The remaining one cursed loudly and moved to grab his crystal, however Ari was already there, rapier glowing fiercely.

The blade pierced through his hand, pinning it to the stone. Growling, the assassin wrenched his dagger from its sheath and lunged toward the lieutenant's throat, wrenching his hand up the rapier's length. Ari stepped backwards, out of his daggers range; unfortunately she was forced to remove her blade from his hand in order to do so.

"Should have just taken the damage sweetheart," The assassin cackled, his dagger glowed sea-green and before she could recover her stance, Ari was being bereted by dagger strokes. It was all the woman could do to keep up with the high level sword skill Perpetual Cut. Her rapier managed to turn aside the first three stokes of the five hit skill. The fourth grazed her upper arm.

Ari turned, bringing her blade up where she thought the dagger would be coming, only to find that it was not there. The assassin cried out in victory as his weapon descended toward the lieutenants back. Ari, with no other option, closed her eyes and waited for the blow to fall.

The sound of steel ringing on steel echoed across the misty waters of the small lake, permeating the unholy silence that had fallen on the stone pier. Momo no Hana easily turned the smaller weapon aside, no doubt decreasing the enemy blade's durability greatly.

Sky fixed the assassin with a glare only she could muster and brought her blade into position. The assassin growled at the interruption, but assuming it was only a minor distraction he answered the swordswoman in kind and held his weapon out to the side.

Similar blue glows fell on both blades and for a brief moment the eerie silence returned to the lakefront. And then the mist was cleared from the surrounding area when the two combatants leapt at each other in an explosion of movement. The single hit sword skills parried each other and the players were forced past one another.

As soon she had cleared the cloaked figure, Sky planted her foot and twisted her body around, bringing her katana into position for another sword skill. Her opponent had just gotten himself turned around when Sky unleashed her three-hit sword skill Curvaceous Dance.

She hated the name; loved the move. The system took control of her body and she gladly fell into the hypnotic rhythms of the skill. Her body crouched low, coiling up her muscles briefly before propelling her high into the air. She brought her knees up close to her chest and somersaulted through the mist, increasing her velocity as she approached her intended target.

The swordswoman uncoiled herself as she was approaching the stone and she brought her katana down diagonally across the assassin's chest. The poor man had no chance to collect himself properly and Sky's skill continued to move her, pirouetting her around her target's right hand side and toward his back. As she came behind him, she fell into a low stance, cutting an angry red line horizontally across his legs.

She came out of the stance, still spinning around her target, holding her blade low. When she reached his opposite side her sword flashed up diagonally once again, finishing the sword skill and connecting the blue glowing lines left by the technique into a triangle.

The best part of the sword skill, was that it had a fifty percent chance of leaving an enemy stunned, unfortunately for the Laughing Coffin member, he fell into the fifty percent. Sky glanced at her targets health and allowed herself to smile as it fell just below the red threshold.

 _Not bad._ As she finished the sword skill Sky snapped her sword out to the side. It may have been a trick of the blades light but the mist itself seemed to swirl back in to coil around her katana and for a brief moment; the swordswoman herself.

Behind the duelists, Sky's party members were muttering amongst themselves, clearly impressed.

"Did you see the way she flowed into her sword skills?" Molokov, the silver knight grunted, eyeing the swordswoman appreciatively.

"No," The whip wielder replied, rolling her eyes. "I must have blinked and missed it. All sarcasm aside, that was quite impressive." The ex-Clearer sized up the shorter swordswoman, quietly smiling to herself.

"So…Did anybody else see the mist?" Matsui asked hesitantly, still slightly wide-eyed from the brief battle. Ari chose to ignore her party members and instead strode up to the paralyzed assassin. She let the tip of her rapier rest on the player's throat and glared at him, a dangerous tint glistening in her eye.

"Now, I believe you have some information for us."

Not long after the short interrogation Sky found herself hiding behind a pile of large stones, staring intently at a labyrinth entrance. The unfortunate assassin had spilled information all too easily, which to her meant that it was reliable. But the clearing guilds didn't want to take any chances and so Thinker had volunteered Sky for the job.

 _How brave of him,_ Sky growled quietly to herself. At least he had offered to double her pay, which made the job somewhat tolerable at least. The man they had captured, who now sat in a jail cell within the Black Iron Palace, had informed them that the red guild made their base within a safe zone in the labyrinth of the tenth floor. The snitch had told them that they were expecting a load of supplies around the current time and so far she hadn't seen hide or hair of any player.

How badly she wanted to simply dismiss the man and return home, but she couldn't. She was bound by her word to finish the job and that was something her guild prided itself on. Besides, she told herself, if she didn't finish the job she wouldn't get paid. So she nestled down into the rocks and waited.

Several hours passed and the swordswoman found she was beginning to nod off until the sound of footsteps brought her back to attention. Sky gave herself a little pinch, not that it actually hurt; to wake herself up and slowly drew her katana, just in case. Soon three players approached the entrance to the labyrinth.

Sure enough each of them wore the dark brown, almost black, cloaks of Laughing Coffin.

"I'll be damned," The guild leader mumbled, continuing to watch as they scoured the immediate area around the entrance. Luckily her Hiding skill was high and her hiding place was far enough away from the entrance that the players only glanced her way briefly.

Satisfied that no one was around the players stalked into the entrance, leaving Sky by herself once again. She waited several minutes, to make sure no more players stumbled into the clearing, and then she dug a teleportation crystal out of the pouch on her belt and said as loudly as she dared.

"Teleport, Granzam!" With a flash of light Sky was whisked away to the fifty fifth floor with information that the guild leaders would definitely find interesting.


	27. Crystal Clear

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Crystal Clear_**

 ** _July 6_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 10:10 am_**

The twenty-seventh floor lay under eternal darkness; the floor itself had no openings to the sky that Aincrad floated in so the only sources of light were the glow stones that populated the dark mountain range. The main settlement, Ronbaru, was small, tiny even by the lower floors standards, but it had a quaint, pleasant ambiance that Cronan enjoyed. The town smelled faintly of pot roast which was enough to make the two blacksmiths drool, the Night Elf NPC's had friendly dialogue and the enormous orange glow stone that hung from the ceiling gave off a warm light.

Had it not been for the small size and the lack of shop variety the Clearers probably would have stayed on the floor for a bit longer. Then again the suffocating pressure of the ever present and descending darkness…was enough to start to drive anyone a little mad. Cronan gave a little twitch and Lisbeth stepped to the side, making room between them.

"You alright?" The pink haired smith asked, raising an eyebrow curiously. The warrior gave another twitch.

"Just a cold chill."

"Cronan…this is a game, I don't think we can get cold chills." The taller of the two ignored her, opting instead to gaze out of the town and into the deep darkness.

"You ever wonder just how small you are compared to the world?" He asked Liz who simply stared at him for a moment.

"Don't get weird," She replied, turning a corner and waving his question away. "Do we have enough food for a few days out?" The warrior nodded glumly, still looking into the impermeable darkness that surrounded Ronbaru. "Good, I have the camping equipment and that info broker marked the area on my map data."

"I still don't trust that kid," Cronan mumbled, finally turning his attention to his short friend. "How many dealings have you had with him?"

"None," She replied cheerfully. "But I'm sure the info is legit; just imagine all of that ore and metal that hasn't been discovered." The short woman's eyes slowly glazed over and her mouth hung open just a little. Cronan raised an eyebrow as the blacksmith actually started drooling.

"Yo!" He snapped his fingers less than an inch in front of her face, bringing her back to the real (sort of) world.

"Mm what-" She blinked rapidly and wiped away the strand of saliva.

"Like I was saying," The tall warrior said. "You shouldn't get your hopes up about that 'secret area'." Cronan held up his hands and wiggled his fingers, making air quotes. "The kid was like twelve."

"There's no harm looking, we go and check it out and if there are ore veins and metal loot then we'll make the data public." Cronan grunted in reply, he reached over his shoulder to grasp the hilt of the sword he had thrown together last night. The grip was unfamiliar and he found himself glaring at Lisbeth yet again. He caught her eye and she sighed audibly. "I _said_ I was sorry, I even offered to make you a new one!"

"And I said I'd make my own," Cronan said, turning away much like a pouting child. Liz snorted behind him and he could almost _hear_ her rolling her eyes at him. He grasped the hilt of the blade, which the system had named Blood Render. The warrior pulled it slowly out of the scabbard, just a couple inches, then released the handle and let gravity slip it back down. Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk, he would get used to it, not that he used weapons much anyway.

Cronan had not realized how long they had been walking and soon found himself along one of the ill lit paths that ran through the floor. Liz opened her menu with a flick of her hand and produced a flame lit lamp to help guide them through the darkness. Although Cronan wished they had splurged a little and bought one of the glow stone lamps that the NPC at the inn sold.

They were expensive but they were worth it. They didn't run out of durability like other lamps and they offered much more light. Oh well, more spilled milk. They continued along the curving path for some time in relative silence.

"You know," Lisbeth said quietly. "If it was a scam I can't imagine he would set it up on this floor." Cronan groaned loudly and ground his palm against his forehead.

"Are you really still on the info broker?"

"All I'm saying; is that if he was trying to scam players it would be on a more populated floor. There is almost nobody here, so why would a scammer set up shop on this floor?"

"I don't know!" Cronan said exasperatedly. "Because he's smart and he waited for stupid yokels like us to come along?" Lisbeth's brow furrowed as she glanced at Cronan in confusion.

"Yo…ke?" Cronan sighed, there probably wasn't a word for 'yokel" in Japanese or their word didn't work there or some such non-sense. The translator in the Nervegear was good but it was far from perfect. He wondered what it had changed his word into… "What do eggs have to do with this!?" Ah, so that was it.

"Never mind," He said, waving her away. "How far do we still have?" He glanced expectantly at the still scowling blacksmith. She gave a little growl but opened her map regardless.

"It's not too far, two more turns and the entrance will be in sight." Cronan snorted, she said turns like they were no big deal, but the turns in the pathways on this floor meant circumventing a mountain…that they could barely see. That was one thing that Cronan hated about this damn floor, there was a mountain barely fifty feet to his left but he couldn't even make out an outline. How do you get within spitting distance of a mountain but not know it's there!?

The duo continued down the meandering path, which was barely wide enough for the two of them. They stopped briefly to rest and eat a delicious meal of hard bread and soup broth, he'd never admit this out loud but Cronan often missed Sky's cooking whenever he was in the field.

Liz munched on her bread miserably, every time Cronan needed a favor she always ended up roughing it for System knows how long. Next time, she vowed he was paying for the more expensive inns and restaurants.

After their meal they were up and moving again, just one more mountain to travel around! Cronan groaned, damn this floor was tedious.

"They lure you in with their stupid glow-y rock and their stupid delicious smelling town, and then _BAM_ , mountain, darkness, monsters!" Liz watched with mild interest as Cronan waved his arms around emphatically. "Stupid Night Elves…" The pink haired player giggled to herself but withheld any comment. Cronan just flicked his hand dismissively at her. "Meh."

"Cheer up," She said. "We're here." She gestured at an inconspicuous collection of stalagmites which were grouped in front of a crack in the side of the mountain that they had just spent the better part of an hour navigating around. The slit in the rock was taller than Cronan and about as wide as his two-handed sword was long.

"I don't see how players could miss that," The warrior commented. "I mean, it's not exactly well hidden."

"A lot of the secret areas didn't open until the fiftieth floor was cleared and by that time nobody came around this floor, all of the ore and metals had already been mined and even with the fairly quick re-spawn time they had there are plenty of quarries on the higher floors that produce high level metals easier and quicker." Liz gestured for the warrior to follow her into the cave entrance and continued. "Not to mention the fact that this place is pitch black and I doubt you would find this area unless you knew where to look, like we did."

Cronan grunted in agreement, he doubted he would have discovered the entrance in this environment, even if he had seen it he wouldn't have thought to go take a look at a bunch of pointy rocks. As they headed deeper in the ceiling of the tunnel slowly declined, forcing Cronan to carry his sword and walk hunched.

Fortunately after another hundred feet or so the tunnel opened up into a large, rough-hewn chamber which was laminated by a large glow stone attached to the ceiling. Liz let out a girlish squeal at the sight of several tens of ore veins littering the sides and floor of the chamber. Unfortunately the noise attracted the attention of the several Dark Dwarves that inhabited the room. With garbled cries they charged the duo, wielding pick-axes and regular battle axes.

"Damn it Sky!" Cronan shouted, rushing to meet the enemies, thankfully he still had his blade drawn.

"Sky?" The hammer-wielder, who was already mid sword skill, asked. She brought her hammer across like a baseball bat, slamming the head into an approaching dwarf.

"Sorry," Cronan called back. His blade swung in a wide arc hitting several enemies as red light trailed behind it. Violent, crimson lines were drawn over some of the dark-skinned enemies. "That's just kind of a habit." Liz gave a shrug before bringing her weapon down vertically onto the prone dwarf's head. The monster exploded into blue, thankfully there was no "skull crushing" sound effect, Liz might have thrown up at that one.

She waited for her partner to finish off the rest of the enemies before dropping her weapon and practically floating to the nearest ore vein. Cronan watched in mild amusement as his friend visibly deflated after touching it and bringing up its information.

"Iron…" She said lowly. She moved to each one checking them quickly and growing more depressed each time. "Iron, iron, iron, copper, iron, iron."

"Don't worry," Cronan said, bumping his shoulder into her. "This is just the first chamber." And with that he lead the way into a tunnel on the far side of the room which sure enough lead into another chamber…with more dwarves.

"This is going to be a long process," Cronan sighed as he drew his blade. The next couple of chambers produced the same results as the first, several enemies and some disappointing ore. However the last chamber raised their hopes exponentially. The two stuck close to the wall of the tunnel that lead into the chamber as they peeked in. This chamber was the largest thus far and Dark Dwarves milled about it, some pushing mining carts filled with ore, others working at multiple forges.

The two players could see ingots on the work bench closest to the entrance and even with the dark atmosphere could make out the high quality. Liz licked her lips in anticipation and Cronan could almost see the burning desire in her eyes.

"You take smithing way too seriously," He muttered. "On three we charge." The warrior was just mouthing "one'' when Liz went charging into the room, screaming at the top of her lungs. Cronan took a minute to steady his nerves, this woman was going to get him killed. With his own battle cry he followed his partner, crashing into the group of dwarves that were planning on taking her from behind.

The battle, though intense, was over rather quickly.

"They aren't leveled very high, are they?" Cronan mused as he slipped his blade back into its scabbard, he turned toward his partner. If he was expecting an answer he was sorely mistaken as the pink haired woman was drooling (almost literally) over the assortment of ore and ingots that decorated the room.

"Now _this_ is what I'm talking about," She breathed, Cronan noticed a slight blush tinging her cheeks and he gave a light cough to bring her back. Liz blinked, straightened and cleared her throat. "Right, so we'll distribute them equally and then be off-Where does _that_ door go?" The blacksmith abruptly changed subjects and spun on her heel, heading to the door in question

The door itself was made of steel, with its heavy hinges bolted into the stone walls. A large lock barred entrance to whatever lay beyond.

"I'm willing to bet we got a key for from one of the dwarves." Cronan said, moving to the door and tapping on it. Sure enough, instead of the information box for it a key appeared in his hand, straight from his inventory. He threw a wink at his friend and then unlocked the thick door, swinging it open as the key disappeared. The tunnel beyond was made of darkness incarnate, if there were walls, a floor or a ceiling you never would have been able to find it.

Liz produced her lamp and held it just inside the door frame; it lit a small portion of the tunnel.

"At least we know there's a floor," Cronan muttered, gently taking the lamp from her. He led the way through the darkness, trusting (more so hoping) that the floor stayed solid. The path was short and its walls soon opened up into another chamber. In the center of the dark room pulsed a purple light.

"What is that?" Liz whispered, not daring to speak any louder. Cronan didn't answer, instead he stepped into the chamber and as his foot touched the floor the glow stone embedded into the ceiling flared to life. The purple light belonged to a monster made entirely of purple crystals.

Its appendages were just longer crystal shards, jointed so they could move, there was no visible head or anything to signify a mouth yet it still let out an ear piercing screech as it charged the two, scuttling on crystal legs like a spider.

Cronan's glowing fist flashed forward to meet the creature, chipping off a piece of its body and health points evenly. His targeting system brought up the creatures health bars (a mere three) and its name Crystalloid, even though the beast had only a few bars of health the direct hit Cronan had made had only reduced its health by a fraction.

"It's got massive defense," The warrior called back to his partner. "Find a weak point!" Liz dashed to the side, eyes raking the creatures figure as Cronan wrenched his blade out of its scabbard. The warrior raised his sword above his head, bending his back slightly as a golden light covered his blade. As the creature moved the warrior dragged the sword back slightly, activating the one hit skill Avalanche.

The sword rocketed down smashing into the Crystalloid, stunning it briefly thanks to the skills effect. The creature was frozen long enough for Cronan to ready his blade his blade for another Avalanche. So long as he kept hitting it he could buy Liz enough time to find a weak point in the crystalline body.

As the beast regained mobility Cronan brought his blade down again, carving a golden arc in the air. Unfortunately the warrior hadn't been thinking about what such a high defense parameter would do to his new sword.

Lisbeth did not bother looking when she heard the crack followed by the ringing sound of polygons floating through the air.

"Not again!" Cronan shouted, Liz resisted the urge to yell back 'I told you not to buy such low value metal!' The monster froze again, broken sword or not the skill had still hit and at last the blacksmith saw a small rigid crystal, glowing a peculiar white, jutting out from the Crystalloid's…thorax? Whatever, her hammer shined and she brought it down on the small weak spot, the creature screeched again as a large amount of its health disappeared. It attempted to spin around but Cronan dashed at the beasts middle, fists glowing.

"I. Am. Sick. Of. Having. My. Swords. Break!" The warrior-smith rained blow after blow down on the crystal until the beast gave one last scream before exploding into data. Cronan doubled over, leaning on his knees and puffing out short breaths, Liz gave him a reassuring pat before checking their loot windows. Living Crystal sat as their only reward but there was a fair number of it.

"Maybe we can make something out of this," She mused before tugging on Cronan's pauldron, leading him back into the tunnel. "Come on, we'll mine all the ore and then refine it into ingots, that'll save us the process back at my shop at least."

Cronan followed along slowly, pawing uselessly at the empty air above his shoulder, where a sword hilt should be.


	28. Metal and Mettle

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Metal and Mettle_**

 ** _July 16_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 9:11 am_**

Cronan brought his hammer down a final time and was rewarded with a chime and a floating blue window with his final creations stats listed. His eyes scanned down the screen and slowly a grin spread over his face. All satisfactory, he thought dismissing the menu and gently lifting the sword.

He placed it carefully on the weapon rack that was bolted to the wall of his workshop and stood back to observe the blade that hung next to it and the three sets of armor that lay on mannequins beside the rack.

Liz had taken the strange crystals they both received and promised him a sword like he had never seen. She did owe him a sword after all and that left him with one less weapon to craft. The warrior moved out of his workshop and into the hallway that connected all of the rooms of the first floor of his guilds house. A left brought him into the kitchen and to the fridge where a sandwich waited.

He took his time eating, savoring the flavor as it would be the last time he would have decent food for a week or so. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and the sandwich was no different. It was time at last, he grabbed the bag that Sky had prepared for him, equipped his armor and the sword he had recently crafted (with good metal) and made his way to the door.

"See you in a couple weeks," he said to no one in particular before closing the door and starting his journey. A brisk walk brought him to the teleportation gate and with a word he was brought to the twentieth floor. The sun shined brightly to greet him and a gently breeze spread its warmth over him. This was a pleasant floor…in the day anyway, the warrior headed for a small canyon path that was set into the cliff walls on one side of the village.

It wasn't long before rock gave way to a small, secluded clearing in the middle of which sat a large beautiful house, The Jasmine Palace.

"My favorite place," Cronan muttered to himself, smiling slightly. He headed to the house, intent on burning daylight and the girls inside, the ones that were awake anyway, were more than happy to see him.

After the sun began to set he took his leave, much to his friends' confusion. He waved away their questioning looks and smiled at them, reassuring them that he would be back in the morning.

He delved deep into the sunshine forest, waiting to find it. Soon the sound of static started to creep into his ears.

"There you are," The warrior muttered, dropping his bag full of potions and drawing his blade. "You and I are going to get very acquainted over the next week or so."

The short swordswoman jerked her body to the side, just narrowly avoiding the blue glowing blade that had been aimed at her torso. With an almost feral snarl she returned the favor, bringing her glowing katana horizontally, across the player's midriff, effectively cutting him in half. The man opened his mouth to scream but he was drowned out by the sound of thousands of polygons shattering.

With a huff Sky returned her blade to the scabbard on her back and resumed her journey through the small caverns. The spies that the guilds had sent had watched Laughing Coffin players enter the cave several times a day for a few days now.

So of course she had been offered the job, infiltrate, see what they got and take anything that wasn't bolted down. Of course that would be much easier if she didn't run into an assassin every three minutes. It was good training, she reminded herself constantly; the experience you got from killing players was pretty high which of course explained why a lot of people turned to PK'ing.

As she turned the final corner of the small tunnel that lead into the mountain the swordswoman found herself in a circular chamber stocked with boxes of different foods and stacks of varied metals.

"Oh this is fantastic," She said with a slight smile. Food and metal would go a long way for the clearing guilds and would cripple the assassins greatly.

"Indeed it is," A voice suddenly rasped to her right causing the swordswoman to jump slightly. The man that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere bore the dark cloak of Laughing Coffin and even in the darkness of the cave Sky could make out the guilds symbol tattooed on his face.

"Du'Vuae," The guild leader said, recognizing the tattoo and the short sword that the man now held. "One of Laughing Coffins lieutenants, they have you guarding their food now?"

"Well we heard there were some rats in our stores, didn't want them to spread anything to our food." So they had seen their scouts, perfect. Without looking away from her enemy Sky brought up her menu and sent a message for reinforcements to Thinker. "By the time your friends get here you'll have been long gone."

"We'll see," Sky smiled and drew her sword with a brilliant flourish.

The player's breaths came raggedly and it was all he could do to hang onto his make-shift sword. His armor and original sword had broken long ago and so he had been forced to rely on whatever weapons the trolls dropped, which were usually one-handed straight swords.

The player eyed his remaining opponents wearily, there was only three left but his stamina was more or less non-existent and his health was closer to the red than he would have liked. He glanced away for a moment to eye the large satchel that sat safely behind a training dummy.

He could easily sprint over to it and chug both potions but he preferred to save those. His gaze darted back to the enemy in front of him. The first one was ready to go down; its health was so close. The other two were another story. All he had to do was take down these last three and then he could rest. Three more and he was a step closer to being stronger.

The player moved his sword into position and let a crimson glow cast its light around the blade.

 ** _August 6_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 11:47 am_**

The small player slipped her way through the crevice that was barely wider than her. The sudden change to darkness blinded her briefly, but a quick change to her Night vision remedied that. The thin corridor went on for a few meters before abruptly opening up into the cavern that she had deposited her guild-mate in almost a month ago.

Cronan had messaged her earlier that morning informing her that he would be returning from his brief training session. With the planned assault only a week away the Oath Keeper leader decided it was time to bring the other one back, although he was supposed to come back as soon as his potions had run out. Perhaps he had used them sparingly?

The swordswoman dismissed her night vision as she entered, not wanting to blind herself from the torches that were placed thinly throughout the chambers. A brief scan of the entrance awarded her with the sight of the satchel she had bought for the player, tossed in a corner. Sky wrinkled her nose, that bag had been _expensive_! Who was he to just toss gifts around?

The short woman made her way through the interconnecting tunnels that would lead to the much larger chamber in the rear of the cave. Give him a piece of her mind, _that's_ what she would do. As she approached she heard the ringing of polygons drifting through the air.

 _Shit!_

Any premise of stealth she had was abandoned as she sprinted down the rest of the tunnel. The sight she took in at the end was better than she had thought, but only just. The player stood several tens of feet away from the Troll Chieftain, his armor had been destroyed a long time ago and the blade he held was nothing like his previous one. The one-handed straight sword was primitive, weak.

The player's left side was almost gone, replaced instead by the large red gash of a wound, most likely inflicted by the monsters overly large bone club. Sky's hand shot to her katana and she stepped forward to assist him. Only to be stopped by a brief glare.

Gone were the hesitation and weakness, the sadness and self-pity. Instead he looked at her with hardness, an edge that had not been there before.

"One more," He said, his voice sounded rusty from disuse. Sky glanced from him to the troll before letting her hand drop from Momo no Hana and leaned back against the cave wall. That was fine, one more and they could go home.

Out of the corner of her eye a brief white glow erupted, signaling that a monster had spawned.

Okay, maybe two more.


	29. Results and Resolution

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Results and Resolution_**

 ** _August 13_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 2:10 pm_**

Brown, arid dirt crunched under the marching feet of fifty players traveling through the wastelands of the tenth floor. In the center of the mass of players marched three players bearing the same tattoo on their forearms, a key.

Sky walked in the middle of her two guild mates, scanning the relatively level horizon of the floor. A single strand of hair fluttered into her view causing her to growl softly, gently she tucked it behind her ear and then pulled down the side of the fabric head band that was supposed to be keeping the hair out of her eyes in the first place.

She pulled her light scarf tighter against her face, hoping it would help protect against the occasional flurry of sand and dirt that would kick up. On her shoulders sat oriental-style samurai pauldrons, the style continued to the vambraces on her fore arms, her shin guards and the chest piece that left her midriff exposed. Underneath her light metal armor she wore her normal tight fitting black fabric outfit, thankfully her new armor had a dull red (almost brown) furnish to it, so when the light caught it, it wouldn't shine.

 _Kind of hard to hide when you're shining like a damn beacon,_ she thought to herself as her hand reached up to grasp the hilt of her new katana, Yamashitaryuu. Sure it had a 'long ass name' as Vlinn liked to say, but damn if that sword wasn't beautiful. Subconsciously she pulled the blade out a few inches and then let it slide back into its lacquered elder wood scabbard.

The butt cap (she rolled her eyes as she imagined Vlinn giggling like a child) was made of gold, one of two parts of the handle (or tsuka) that wasn't pitch black and was molded in the shape of a roaring dragon. The hilt itself was made from the Elder wood that her scabbard was made from. The hand guard was the second and last golden piece of the weapon. It was a simple oval in shape but etched into it was the depiction of an oriental dragon coming around the guard fully to almost bite its tail.

The blade was a dull silver/grey, thanks to the wyvern that they had gotten the metal from. Instead of a waving line in the blade that most katana had, this was replaced with an etching of a dragon undulating along the sword, much like the line would have. As beautifully crafted as the sword was, what made it a master piece was the base stats it had when Cronan had forged it.

Originally when it had first formed it was a 2S2A5D weapon, +2 Sharpness, +2 Accuracy and an astonishing +5 Durability. The sword was damn heavy too, nothing she would not get used to though. Cronan had upgraded the sword almost thirty times after its forging and he had told her that all their weapons still had few more upgrade slots. The swordswoman laughed lightly as her hand slowly moved up to the handle of her new blade yet again.

Vlinn side stepped away from his leader, making a face as she fondled her weapon awkwardly. After watching his leader for a moment longer the player felt his hand drop to his own weapon, Enrapture. The one-handed curved sword, had been presented to him after his three days of sleep upon returning from training, made from the same rare metal that Cronan had been collecting since the first floor.

Enrapture was a Hanger, which was more or less the bastard offspring of a cutlass and a saber. It retained the thickness of cutlass but with the length and gentle curve of the other weapon. His blade was simple by all standards, the blade was a normal silver color and the basket hilt was a polished gold. Etched into the wide hand guard was two detailed, entrancing eyes and below them was the snarling maw of a predator. Vlinn had found himself staring into the eyes for hours, losing himself in their familiarity. The design was simple but he liked simple.

The metal that Cronan had used to make it was speed based and it had come out as a 3S3Q blade. Like everyone else's his weapon had been upgraded almost fully from there, making it even more deadly. It felt light in his grip, almost weightless and when he swung it his arm was a blur, making it hard even for Sky to track its movement.

Vlinn turned his attention to the soldiers around him for a moment, watching as the sun gleamed brightly off of their armor. His new equipment wasn't too shabby itself, being made from dragon scales and all. The red scale patterned armor covered most of his chest and the pattern continued over his pauldrons (in which were etched two roaring dragons) and over his vambraces and greaves. Over his armor the speedster wore a deep red cloak purchased from a tailor shop on the forty eighth floor, owned by a player named Ashley.

That encounter had not started off as he had first imagined, there had been some yelling and name calling and then some misadventures which he would rather not think about. In his defense had hadn't expected a Japanese player to use a name like that. Regardless he had been able to make amends with her and so she had crafted his cloak and even turned Sera's fang into a necklace that he now wore around his neck. She hadn't even charged him for the necklace, although she did charge him double for the cloak…

Amongst the three of them Cronan's equipment was easily the most eye catching. His armor had been crafted from the crystal that he and Liz had found in the mines. His heavy armor appeared as if each piece had been meticulously carved and polished from a large purple gem. From his pauldrons to his boots, each piece shone a gentle purple glow. The glossy appearance first made his friends think of glass and they questioned its defensive capabilities.

All doubts had been put to rest when he had tested the armor in front of them by swinging a well-made sword at his newest raiment. The chiming of an object being destroyed had filled Cronan's workshop and the warrior-smith was left standing weaponless, smiling proudly at his armor.

The blade that had been forged by Lisbeth, Crystalyst, was made from the same material; however instead of appearing as purple glass the hilt appeared to be made of carved stone. The stone had the same glowing property as the gem armor; the appearance was just rougher by far. But the blade was made of crystal, purple and pulsing as if it had a heartbeat of its own. The grip of the sword lacked the classic leather grip that most blades had; instead old purple wrappings covered the handle and then fell past the pommel by at least two feet.

The weapon looked as though it was carved, rough as it was, instead of forged but its stats were plenty capable of keeping up with any of the other Front-line weapons.

After each of their own training sessions had ended, the guild had met up about a week before today, the day that the Guilds had decided to launch an attack against Laughing Coffin. So for a week they had relaxed, lazing around the house or going for walks on one of the more peaceful floors.

Now the Oath Keepers moved along at a forced march, surrounded by high level players. Heathcliff stood at the front of the contingent, a small wisp of a woman, The Flash, was beside him. They were speaking animatedly as the group continued down their path, which lead into a canyon. As soon as the contingent entered several players grasped their weapons.

Sky threw her head side to side, hand on her weapon, while Cronan carefully scanned the top of the canyon.

"We have company don't we," Vlinn asked quietly, he grasped the hilt of his sword in preparation. Neither players said anything but that was than enough of an answer for him. Several guild leaders were speaking with Heathcliff in hushed tones and quiet murmur was beginning to work its way through the small army.

All were silenced as broken laughter filled the stone gorge.

"Wonderful sense of theatrics," Sky muttered, rolling her eyes. Slowly black cloaked players made their appearance, either marching in through the opposing entrance (seemingly appearing out of the shadows) or standing at the top of the rocky out cropping that formed a ring around the Clearers.

The tension that filled the air was suffocating, players on both sides gripped their weapons but no one dared to break the stalemate. Until one Laughing Coffin member stepped forward.

"Well, when we heard that there was an 'army' coming to kick us out of _our_ hideout, I must say I was expecting something a little bigger."

Sky shot a glance to her two partners, that voice sounded so familiar, their return glances told her they had the same line of thought. She turned her attention back to the supposed leader of the red guild just as Heathcliff was stepping forward, a neutral smile spread over his lips.

"We have sent several messengers to try and negotiate with you," He had to pause as the canyon was filled with laughter. "They were met with violence and often killed; as such we are left with no alternative. Please surrender or we will be forced to bring you into captivity." Again came the wave of laughter although more violent this time, more menacing.

"How many we got Sky?" Vlinn muttered loosening Enrapture in its sheath. The guild leader's eyes swept over the crowds of black cloaked players, making quick mental tallies.

"Seventy give or take."

"Well that's not good," Cronan said. "That's at least a twenty player advantage they have and I'm going to assume they are at least decently levelled." At the front of the mob of players both leaders were just finishing up their "negotiations".

"I take it you won't be coming quietly then," Heathcliff kept his shield and sword held at a neutral position.

"You would be right," The Laughing Coffin leader replied (his name read PoH) as he ran his index finger gently down the side of his meat cleaver.

"I suppose we have nothing left to discuss then," The heavily armed warrior said and with that he ripped his blade out the special sheath that was embedded in his tower shield. The movement cost him a moment of precious time which his opponent capitalized on, dashing forward, cleaver already collecting the light of a sword skill.

And just like that chaos erupted, Laughing Coffin poured into the canyon, attacking the alliance from three different sides. The first wave of attack was brief, a simple exchange of blows and then the red guild retreated several meters. Unfortunately before the Clearers could reorient themselves the assassins dashed in again, this time prolonging combat and actually engaging.

The Oath Keepers ripped weapons out of sheaths and darted toward the nearest enemies, Sky turned a blade aside as she approached a player that was being overwhelmed; Cronan reached a small group of players that were being out numbered and swung his massive sword making space between them and the red players.

Several of the higher levelled Clearers fought on in brilliant dances, complimented by the shining light of their blades. However when opportunities to end the fight were presented they would hesitate, giving the assassins time to score a hit of their own or make space between them and their opponent.

The Oath Keepers were finding themselves in a difficult position as well; whenever a Clearer faltered they would try to intervene before the assassin could do too much damage. There was too much indecision.

They were fighting a losing battle already.

"Why are they all hesitating?" Cronan growled, swinging Crystalyst in a wide arc, forcing several assassins to retreat.

"Our orders were to bring them in alive…" One of the heavy plated warriors said, a little too quietly for a battlefield but there wasn't much that Cronan didn't hear these days.

"Your orders were to try and bring them in by force and to defend yourselves!" The warrior-smith roared in response. His guild-mates spared a moment to look at him before resuming their defensive dances.

"They're murderers," A smaller player shouted back. "I've never killed a player before, they _have_ to be stronger than us, we can't win."

"It's _us_ or _them_!" Cronan's words were punctuated by the sounds of several of the Clearers screaming, followed closely by the chiming of polygons floating away. Despair swept through the clearing guilds and Sky could almost _see_ morale plummet. Sword swings became half-hearted, granting Laughing Coffin an opening to wreak havoc. Several more players fell and it seemed as though the alliance was going to crumble and erode just as everything else seemed to beneath the plague that was Laughing Coffin.

Until the ringing of polygons was wrought by a Clearer. The assassin screamed in terror as his body broke into thousands of shards of data, causing the red guild to pause briefly. The player was dressed head to toe in black and his simple one-handed straight sword shared his color scheme.

"They are _not_ all powerful," The young man cried. "They can be defeated!" The black clad player ducked beneath a sword and retaliated with a glowing blade of his own. Two cuts later and the attacker exploded into data. "They are not warriors, they kill through deceit not skill, if you fight you have nothing to fear, remember that they have caused the deaths of innocents. Avenge them! Fight!"

With that said the boy sprinted to his next opponent, moving so fast that it took a minute for the targeting system to catch him. At first the alliance didn't move but Heathcliff and his second in command, that little wisp of a girl, let out war cries and charged for the nearest assassin. With their leader charging forward (and of course their beloved sub-leader) the players from the KoB held no reserves about charging in after them and in that moment of rising morale all of the other guilds found themselves pulled along with them.

"Huh," Sky commented, taking a break as the assassins' lines had been pushed back. "That black haired kid definitely got these guys' attention."

"He was pretty damn fast too," Cronan noted, rolling his shoulders to relieve some of the ache. Vlinn snorted beside him, distaste evident in his expression.

"He might be fast but I'm faster," And in an explosion of dust the red armored player dashed toward the battle lines, his guild leader watched him for a moment before sighing.

"That black player was faster," Cronan said.

"I know…but let's not tell him that." And with a shared grin the two followed after their friend. The boost in morale was enough to get the players back to fighting with intent to at least maim; Vlinn decided that, that would have to be enough.

He had already cut down one assassin and was in the midst of a one sided duel (in his favor) with another when his opponent suddenly turned and ran.

"Where the hell are you _going_?" The red-armored player shouted; before he could give chase however he caught the gleaming of a sword skill out of the corner of his eye. Vlinn spun to the side, narrowly avoiding full contact with a dagger; the tip just barely scratched his face. The speedster moved to place his sword into a skill position…only to find that he couldn't move. "Damn!"

"Feel free to struggle all you want," The assassin chuckled. "I prefer a noisy victim." Unlike most of the assassins he bore no cloak, only a dark brown cowl that looked more like a paper bag than anything.

"You dress like a hobo," Vlinn snarled.

"This coming from the guy wearing a cape, do you think you look like a super hero or something."

"First of all, I will have you know that _this_ is a cloak. Secondly, it's in style this year so you can just take that dagger of yours and _shove it up your-_ " The assassin released the charging type skill that he had been hiding behind his back (damn him and his dagger) and sprinted at the paralyzed player. The small blade was turned aside before he was anywhere near Vlinn and its owner was given a large red gash across his chest for his trouble.

Cursing the assassin leapt back putting distance between himself and the katana wielding swordswoman, Sky sniffed disdainfully at him before turning to Vlinn and holding up a green crystal which was giving off a gently glow.

"Cure," She said quietly, holding it to her friend's forehead. A cold, tingling sensation washed over the speedster. A brief moment later and Vlinn was stretching out his limbs.

"Thanks for the save," He said, wiggling his fingers and toes.

"You're just frickin' helpless aren't you?"

"Bite me," The assassin watched the two closely, weighing his options when Sky turned to face him.

"Using a dagger coated in poison and wearing a stupid mask," She mused, holding Yama (as she had taken to calling it) at the ready. "You must be The Poison Dagger Johnny Black."

"At your service," The assassin replied uneasily, he held his dagger tightly and glanced between the two of them. Running probably wasn't good, he'd seen the guy in the red move, he was fast. Fighting them two on one was _definitely_ out of the question, especially with the katana wielder there.

"I think I recognize her," Came a voice, beside Johnny, he didn't need to look to know who it was. "That's The Mist Dancer, isn't it?" Sky gave a slight nod as she eyed up the new arrival. He wore the standard cloak and a skull mask, behind which burned two vibrant, crimson eyes.

"And you must be Red Eyed Xaxa," The guild leader replied.

"Mist dancer?" Vlinn muttered next to her. "When did _you_ get a nickname?"

"Cronan and I had a busy month while you were on vacation."

"Vacation? I wasn't- wait Cronan has one too?"

"No heavy armor or two-handed sword," Xaxa commented. "But he has your guild symbol; this isn't The Dragon Slayer is it?" Before Vlinn could ask about the name Sky moved her katana into position, collecting brilliant blue light on it.

"I'll take Xaxa, you take Black." She commanded, Vlinn's fingers moved quickly as he opened his menu and materialized the mask Siraya had carved for him.

"Sounds like **_fun_** ," He commented, his voice coming out distorted through the mask.

"On three?" But Vlinn was already gone.

Near the entrance that the alliance had used PoH stood, casually observing the battlefield. The odds had tipped violently in the Clearer's favor and slowly his assassins were being pushed into a corner. Oh well, time to cut his losses and ditch, the assassin's leader decided. He turned to find his way barred by a heavily armored, heavy breathing player.

"And where…do you think…you're going!" Cronan gasped, trying to suck in as much air as possible. If not for PoH's cowl one would have noticed him arch an eyebrow at the breathless warrior.

"Don't I know you?" The leader of Laughing Coffin asked, slowly bringing his cleaver into an attack position.

"We met once," The warrior replied, brandishing his own blade. "You were working for a merchant and then you left him and my guild in a cemetery filled with skeletons." PoH cocked his head to the side.

"Sorry, not really specific enough, you'd be surprised how often that happens." Before Cronan could respond the assassin leapt forward, bringing his cleaver down toward Cronan's neck. The warriors glowing hand shot up to parry aside the blade, he quickly followed with a snap-kick. His boot never connected as PoH dove to the side, coming out into a roll and bringing his weapon into another skill position.

Cronan brought Crystalyst to bear, bringing it above his head in a two-handed grip. The blade shined a brilliant orange as PoH charged in the tall warrior brought his sword down with surprising speed. It was only thanks to the assassin's high reaction time that he managed to avoid it, spinning to the side to do so.

However before he could activate a new sword skill Cronan abandoned his weapon, sending a flurry of shining fists at the assassin. He managed to land two hits, which reduced the lightly armored assassin's health by a large margin, before PoH managed to leap away from the grinning warrior.

The guild leader glanced at his health bar quickly and upon seeing its close vicinity to the red zone he decided it would be prudent to makes his escape. The two players circled each other, like two pacing tigers. Before Cronan could react PoH wrenched his cleaver into a charging skill position and was soon racing past the more heavily laden warrior. The smaller weapon bounced uselessly off of Cronan's heavy armor, not that it mattered to the assassin.

As soon as the cloaked player had passed the warrior he dipped his hand toward the ground and grasped a fistful of sand and dirt. As soon as Cronan whipped around he was assaulted by the mixture. The warrior-smith roared in outrage, rubbing at his eyes in a vain attempt to clear it out of his eyes.

When his sight returned Cronan found he was alone at the only exit of the floor.

Johnny Black was not by any means a warrior, he killed through deceit, poisons and stealth or any combination thereof. So when he was faced with a player who only knew confrontation he had first thought that he had the advantage.

He was very wrong.

The assassin's long dagger once again cut helplessly through empty air as the red armored player seemed to disappear.

"Damn it all!" Johnny yelled, glancing around wildly, hoping his targeting system would catch the player. "Would you sit still!"

"Behind you," Came the answer. The assassin whirled around bringing his weapon into a defensive position. However the only thing behind him was a curtain of dust that obscured his view of that side of the battlefield.

The assassin turned again at the sound of a chuckle, this time bringing his dagger into a sword skill position as soon as his targeting system locked onto the masked player he let the skill take over. The red glowing skill Rapid Bite was a three-strike dagger skill that moved at very high velocities. Vlinn parried aside the first strike and just brought Enrapture up again to block, the third strike however was moving too fast for his hanger to keep up with.

Johnny Black grinned wildly as his dagger soared straight toward the speedsters throat, the blade cut through empty air as Vlinn jettisoned himself backwards (thank you high agility stat!). The assassin growled his displeasure and began to bring his weapon back into position for another attack, but the Oath Keeper was one step ahead of him.

Vlinn approached swiftly, targeting fixed on the assassin. Enraptured glowed a vibrant yellow and in an instant the player leapt forward bringing the blade across, right to left. Johnny hastily brought his weapon up to block the strike, only to have it knocked aside when the blade reversed directions, coming back horizontally.

Vlinn whipped his weapon above his head before bringing it down across his opponent's chest, ripping open a wide red gash. The assassin cried out in surprise as his life drained away quickly. Enraptures glow was starting to dim as the skill was coming to a close, the blade reversed direction again, Vlinn brought it from bottom to top, diagonally, aiming it slightly wide so the yellow line traced its path across the assassins wrist.

The hanger cleaved through the players hand easily and as it dropped to the ground the appendage exploded into thousands of polygons. Enrapture's light finally dispersed ending the four hit skill Farrant Full Moon.

The assassin gaped at his hand (or lack thereof) briefly before looking around wildly for his dagger. It was planted blade first in the ground next to the spot where his hand had been only moments before. Johnny lunged for it, grabbing it awkwardly with his left hand; he came up in a defensive stance only to find himself looking at a thick curtain of dust. The player spun on his heel to find that he was surrounded on all sides by thick walls of dirt and debris; he was effectively cut off from the battle field.

He froze when he spotted two red eyes glaring at him from in the dust, slowly approaching him.

"Xaxa?" The supposed assassin called hopefully. The eyes froze briefly and Johnny could have sworn a crimson smile materialized beneath the blazing orbs.

"If only you were so fortunate," A distorted voice answered through the dust.

Red Eyed Xaxa paused, turning his head toward the spot where his partner had been when the battle had begun. Had someone been calling him? The distraction almost cost him dearly as a katana arced toward him, glowing an angry red. He parried it aside desperately with his beloved, perpetually red glowing Estoc Thorn sword. The long thin blade managed to push aside the much sturdier weapon but more than likely at the cost of a lot of its durability.

The short player in front of him glared and launched another attack, streaming together sword skills seamlessly. Instead of blocking again and possibly wearing down his own weapon more; Xaxa threw himself into a backward roll, hoping to put distance between him and the miniature tornado.

It seemed that Sky was one step ahead of him, as the assassin came to his feet the guild leader executed a charging type skill, seemingly appearing right in front of the player. It was only thanks to the assassin's fast reaction time that he managed to wrench his head back, the tip of the katana only just grazing his throat, drawing a very thin red line.

Xaxa leapt backwards and brought his sword into a defensive post, was it just him or should that sword have moved a _lot_ faster than it had. The assassin had no more time to contemplate as the katana soared in again, angled straight for one of his vitals. Without thinking he brought up the Estoc, parrying the heavier blade aside at the last moment.

 _Damn,_ the assassin winced as the weapons made contact. He had never before considered his glorious blade _flimsy_. How could he? It was a one of a kind weapon (it glowed red for Systems sake!) but when compared to the katana in front of him he had to concede that the enemy's weapon was stronger by far.

The smaller player had stepped back, holding her blade by her side in an un-threatening manner. Was she _mocking_ him now? Mocking _him_? Him, one of the greatest assassins in the game?

Xaxa ground his teeth together furiously and gripped his weapon a little too tightly. He'd teach her not to make light of him.

He placed his blade on his left hip as if sheathing it and held it for a few seconds. The swords light changed from its passive red to a brilliantly blazing purple. He leapt forward and his arms moved in a blur that would have been impossible for any lower levelled players to see.

Snake Bite was a two-hit skill that involved hitting either side of a weapon in rapid succession. The blade moved so fast that the points of impact seemingly happened at once and the sound of only one strike could be heard ringing through the air. The sword skill had one very useful side effect; it had a chance of breaking the opposing weapon.

As his weapon went through motion, striking the katana twice (two impacts at once, one sound) Xaxa stared at the woman's sword expectantly, _hungrily._ The heavy blade stayed perfectly solid and the swordswoman arched an eyebrow expectantly at him.

"There is a skill for katana users that is very similar in how that skill of yours was executed." The leader of the Oath Keepers said as she brought her sword by her hip, similar to Xaxa. Her free hand hovered over Yama's hand guard and a fierce green light roared to life over her weapon.

The assassin cursed at himself, unsure of how to proceed and in that moment of hesitation Sky activated her sword skill Tsujikaze. Her blade cut upwards diagonally from left to right, her arm and sword were invisible to any player that was watching. It was by pure coincidence that Xaxa's sword was brought into her katana's path.

Yama sliced through the Estoc without any resistance and came to a stop centimeters from the center of the players face. With the shattering sound of the assassin's beloved weapon he felt all of his confidence drain away.

"It seems today is your lucky day," Sky commented, keeping her sword trained on her opponent. "That should have cut you in two." Xaxa clenched his fist hoping to still feel his weapon there and when he did not the assassin sank to his knees.

"I surrender," He said quietly hold his hands out to the side. On all sides the assassins saw that one of their sub-leaders, one of the strongest Laughing Coffin had to offer, had been bested. Slowly, one by one, Laughing Coffin members began dropping weapons and holding their hands up.

Sky said nothing instead returning her blade to its scabbard on her back with an overly flashy flourish, as it sank into its sheath she paused at the swords collar and then jammed it down with a satisfying _click_.

Several skirmishes were still being fought even as the majority of Laughing Coffin had dropped their weapons. Vlinn has just finished quickly assisting one such group and was now roaming the field, searching for any more resistance with a small contingent of knights behind him.

They came across another group with a strangely familiar player at its head, seemingly prepared to keep up the fight. One look at the demonically masked player was enough for the majority of assassins to drop their weapons. Once they saw the will to fight leave their comrades the rest of the group let their equipment fall as well, the leader took longer to finally decide that they were outmatched.

Vlinn's eyes scanned over the leader, probing him for some feature that would explain the sense of familiarity that he was getting from the man. He approached the assassin; Enrapture held at the ready and pointed his weapon at the player.

"Remove your mask." The red armored player demanded with his muffled voice.

"We surrender," The leader replied and his voice struck a chord deep within Vlinn's memory.

"Your mask!" The Oath Keeper hissed, letting a skill charge his blade with its red glow. The assassin gulped audibly and slowly pulled the standard Laughing Coffin mask off. Vlinn's eyes widened behind his own covering and he had to bite down on his lip to keep from swearing aloud.

The player that had led the bandits on the savannah-like floor kneeled before him now.

Him…he's the one…responsible…gone…she's gone…him…him… _HIM!_ Vlinn's mind was a hurricane of thought and the crimson eyes of his mask blazed brighter as he glared down at the helpless player before him.

"We surrender," The bandit-turned-assassin repeated, holding his hands out to the side and looking hopefully at the player standing above him. The Oath Keeper tilted his head to the side as he considered the man before him. The assassin felt hope rise as silence sat heavily in the air for a moment, only to have it crushed a second later.

"No."

All around the assassins were being disarmed, forced to open their equipment menu and Un-equip everything. A KoB member relieved her of Xaxa and Sky found herself wandering the battlefield, watching as the Laughing Coffin members were corralled into the center of the canyon and placed under heavy surveillance.

"That could have gone better," A deep voice commented behind her. Heathcliff approached her, smiling his politically neutral smile that seemed to have overtaken his face as of late.

"I thought it turned out alright," Sky answered, sweeping her gaze over the tide of black cloaks.

"We lost more than we should have," The taller of the two guild leaders stalked along the line of prisoners, Sky followed along quietly.

"We already have numbers?"

"Thank Matsui for that," The large Tank-player chuckled.

"Is it bad?"

"Any loss we suffer is bad," He answered stoically. Sky had to fight to hold in the impatient sigh.

"I am aware of that…" She glanced up to see him smiling sadly at her. That was the most emotion she had seen him project in a very long time. "Are you going to give me numbers or not?"

"We lost eleven," And the smile disappeared. "We killed twenty one of their assassins though. We paid them back almost twice over…although I don't count that as much of a victory."

"The important thing," Sky reminded him gently. "Is that Laughing Coffin won't be running amok anymore." The heavily armored man was saved from answering by Vlinn's timely arrival.

"Yo," The red armored player greeted, grinning proudly.

"Where's Johnny Black?" Sky asked with more edge to her voice than she had intended.

"Don't worry some of the other players are going to bring him along shortly."

"And you didn't think it was a good idea to watch him until they got there?"

"Trust me he wasn't going anywhere."

"Is that him?" Heathcliff interrupted, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the harsh light above. "Does he have any limbs left?!"

"Most of his right arm," Vlinn said innocently. His leader noticed that most of the soldiers that were escorting the prisoners gave her comrade a rather wide berth if they had to approach the group. Sky bit back the sharp comment she was about to spout when she saw Cronan trudging tiredly over to them. Vlinn followed her gaze and raised an eye at the heavily laden warrior. "What happened to you?"

"PoH got away," He muttered miserably. At this Heathcliff's gaze hardened. "He threw sand in my face and then ran."

"Damn that man," Heathcliff growled, his hand was shaking slightly and Sky was sure that any minute it would shoot up to grab his white hilted blade Liberator. After a few moments Heathcliff let out a pent up breath. "It can't be helped, without his guild he won't be too much trouble. I saw you dueling him Cronan, you did better than I could have hoped to." He rested a hand on the warrior-smith's shoulder and smiled.

Cronan lightened slightly at the guild leader's praise and returned his smile. Heathcliff held his hand there for a moment before taking a step back and taking stock of all the prisoners.

"Well, we had better get these men to the prison," The tall man dug into a belt pouch and produced a large blue crystal. "Corridor crystal," he said with a wink before moving away from them and toward the front of the small army of players. His sub-leader met him half way and began speaking quickly with him. Sky watched them go for a minute before turning back to her own guild.

"Well," she started, grinning widely. "I think we did pretty damn good." Her friends chuckled in agreement as the headed toward the left side of the mass of players. They would follow them through the corridor and assist in their imprisonment.

"I wonder how they knew we were coming," Cronan mused as they walked. "Who's the rat?" His words dragged the mood down severely and the guild was left to ponder the answer themselves.

 **A/N: So the whole encounter may not go as you may remember it. This chapter was written long before the second season of SAO had premiered. I had only written forms of media to base the encounter off of and the light novels and manga only mention it briefly, my apologies that it does not quite match up.**


	30. The Rabbit Hole

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _The Rabbit Hole_**

 ** _October 16_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 5:52 pm_**

Sunlight filtered through the thick green canopy of the thick forest, light beams thrown helter-skelter to illuminate random patches of moss, grass or wood. The seventy fourth floor was surprisingly peaceful when considering its proximity to the top floor. Monsters were under leveled in the forest that surrounded the labyrinth and many of the Clearers would take strolls down the wide paths that crisscrossed the woods. But not the Oath Keepers.

"Oh no, we have to take the path 'less travelled'." Vlinn made quotation motions with his fingers.

"It's nice out," Sky answered defensively. "I thought it would be nice just to go somewhere that wouldn't be crowded with players."

"So the first place your mind went to was a forest filled with monsters?"

"Because that level thirty boar was just _so_ threatening," Cronan arched an eyebrow at his friend, trying to keep a smile from spreading over his face. Vlinn snorted in response as he carefully picked his way through a small system of roots that had grown over the ground.

"All I'm saying," The red armored warrior continued. "Is that maybe next time we could just stick to the path."

"Anything to keep you from bitching more," Sky said as she dragged her fingers over her face. As her eyes came back into focus her targeting system dragged her sight onto a bush several meters away. The swordswoman held up her hand, fist clenched and the two players behind her froze. Slowly their hands moved toward their individual weapons.

Before any of them could move the bush rustled briefly before producing a small white rabbit.

"Bunny!" Vlinn hissed, holding his hands out as if he could pick it up. The rabbit stood on its hind legs, sniffing at them curiously.

"Look at its coat," Cronan said, leaning in slightly. Sky followed his gaze to find that he wasn't referencing the rabbit's fur but the _actual_ coat that it wore. Well, more of a vest really, complete with pocket watch.

"That is the fanciest rabbit I have _ever_ seen." Vlinn muttered, the player's targeting system finally focused enough to bring up the creatures name. "Ragout rabbit?" Three sets of jaws dropped.

"Those things are supposed to be delicious!" Cronan whispered animatedly.

"Roasted or stew?" Sky asked trying not to drool overly much. The guild leader produced a throwing knife and was already focusing in on her target. The rabbit, sensing its predicament squealed and tore away, zigzagging between trees, dodging the small arsenal of knives that Sky was throwing its way. Vlinn took off after it, sprinting as fast as his parameters would allow, not that it would make a difference.

"The ragout rabbit is the fastest monster in the game." Cronan sighed and let his hand fall away from Crystalyst. "So much for a gourmet dinner." Sky eyed her taller friend, eyebrow raised.

"Are you saying my meals aren't gourmet?" Cronan wisely kept his mouth firmly shut, choosing instead to follow after Vlinn through the dense woods. It was not long before they heard their friends cry for help, they followed his voice for several minutes to find him hanging on to a root . The rest of his body dangled helplessly into a pit that was larger around than Cronan was tall.

"Where the hell did this come from?" Cronan asked nobody in particular as he bent down to pull his friend up. Behind him Sky cried out in terror and he saw her form in his peripherals, before he could move she was already plummeting into the impenetrable darkness below. "Wha-" The tall warrior felt something push against him and soon he too was helplessly descending into darkness, Vlinn in tow.

"You couldn't let go?!" And then the darkness swallowed them whole.

The rabbit peeked its small head over the rim of the pit, nose twitching. It had long since abandoned its vestments and now with nothing left to do sat, contemplating what it meant that three players had fallen (okay so they were pushed, he wasn't there to argue semantics!) into the hole. The bunny's inner musings were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps coming down the path only several feet away.

From between two ferns the rabbit watched as a player dressed in black made his way along. After a brief moment of consideration the creature decided that this player needed investigating and so it hopped out into the path, intent on examining the intruder. It only briefly saw the flash of blue in the player's hand.

Vlinn was the first one to come to his senses, his eyelids fluttered as his consciousness slowly came to. Groaning and pressing a fist to his temple, the player sat up, waiting for the blood in his head to evenly distribute again. The sounds of his awakening were met with groans from his companions and they too slowly pushed their way into more vertical positions.

"Where the hell are we?" Vlinn grumbled still holding his skull, mostly to ensure that it didn't burst from his skin or explode, neither of those sounded very enjoyable.

"You can check hell off the list," Replied a wistful voice. "Much too cold here this time of season." Hands shot to weapons instantly. However no enemies could be found in the small wooded clearing that they had awoken in.

"Who was that?" Cronan muttered pulling his blade out of its sheath. The warrior-smith blinked…and then a second pair of eyes just above his blinked. Vlinn's eyes widened and Sky's mouth made a perfect O.

"Cronan…" The swordswoman said eventually. "You…uh. You have…um. Eyes." The warrior stared at her for a moment, both eyebrows raised.

"No shit?"

"You have extras," Vlinn said and pointed at the second pair above Cronan's originals.

"What?" Cronan's hands shot to his forehead, probing for the eyes which had, of course, slid over the top of his head.

"And now they're behind you." Sky said. Cronan spun around trying to find the offending objects which were at the moment glued to the back of his head. The faceless orbs winked at the guild leader. "Gross."

"Okay," Vlinn grunted. "This was entertaining for about three seconds, now you're just annoying." In response the eyes lazily rose off of Cronan's head and into the air. Slowly eyebrows formed above the eyes (and proceeded to wiggle at the players) and then the form of a rather plump cat filled in the air around the floating orbs (although when the cat had finally formed the eyes had wound up sitting on its sternum).

"Good afternoon," The purple striped feline purred. "Or should I say good morning? Or evening? Perhaps all three?"

"Oh god," The red armored player grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Not in this world," The cat hissed viciously. Three sets of eyes widened at the sudden ferocity.

"Erm, what?" Sky asked shakily.

"After-eve-morn?" The cat glanced at the small player. "Do _you_ have a word in mind?" Before she could open her mouth the cat chuckled to herself as he floated along on his back. "Well of course you have a word in mind, your mind is full of words! Or at least I hope they would be, unless you were deaf of course. Or mute, although I suppose you would still think in words. Do you think in words?" The cat suddenly appeared at Cronan's shoulder causing the warrior to jump.

"Son of a bitch!"

"No, no," The cat replied wagging a finger. "Female cats are known as queens, so really I am the son of a queen. I suppose that makes me a prince, how regal." The cat chuckled and slowly faded from view although his voice still rang through the clearing. "Twas bryllyg, and ye slythy toves, did gyre and gymble in ye wabe."

"Are those even words?" Sky muttered, her eyes darted to and fro, trying to lock down the cat.

"More like soliloquys," The cat answered, leaning on the woman's shoulder. Sky let out a less than elegant squeak and brushed at her shoulder only to find that the cat was again gone. Cronan pointed at Vlinn's head and the red armored player let out a sigh.

"I seriously hope this is a dream," Vlinn said. The cat, which was sitting on top of the player's skull, playing with his feet, leaned down so their noses were touching.

"Can you stand on your head?"

"You can certainly _sit_ on mine!"

"Oh, well don't mind if I do." The creature fluffed up its tail and wrapped it around its body so it had something to lean on.

"That was _not_ an offer!"

"Well I am _very_ glad some players managed to venture into my world, it has been a dreadful wait."

"And…wait what?"

"You were waiting for _players_?" Sky asked, her hand fell to Yama's hilt.

"You know we're players?" Cronan moved forward, closer to Vlinn in case the cat decided to move aggressively.

"Well of course I do," The cat scoffed. "Who do you think programmed half of the environments of the floors?"

"Programmed…" Sky muttered. "You're-"

"One of the _lead_ programmers for Argus, Honbo Nomura." The cat stood up and took a small bow. "I worked under Kayaba Akihiko himself, although _I_ did most of the work. Of course he still gets most of the credit." At this the cat took a hold of his grin, pulled it off of his face, turned it upside down and smacked it back on.

"I can't deal with this," Vlinn declared storming over to a nearby tree and pressing his forehead into the bark. He opened his eyes momentarily only to find himself staring into two yellow colored cat eyes.

"Hi."

"Fuck me sideways!" He yelped, leaping back from the tree. The programmer drifted out of the tree and began cartwheeling through the air above them.

"Well, during production I pitched my idea for a quest line and an alternate area which he _rejected_." The creature's eyes flashed red briefly. "He fired all of us the day SAO launched you know, didn't much care for us, said I was _mad_." His lips curled into a grin.

"Rather ironic coming from Akihiko," Cronan muttered.

"I'm pretty sure you _are_ mad," Sky said to the now spinning cat.

"Of course I'm mad, we're _all_ _mad here_ , even you,"

"We aren't mad," Vlinn said, glaring at the creature.

"Of course you are, you're _here_."

"Where is _here_ exactly," Cronan asked.

"I call it, _Wonderland_."

The three players made their way through the forest, much like how their day had started. Several signs were posted near them, although the majority of them either pointed up or (curiously enough) in a circle.

"Message system doesn't work," Sky sighed, dismissing her menu.

"Map's fucked," Vlinn added.

"Crystals are gone," Cronan grunted. The group took a minute to let all of that sink in.

"Fuck!" They chorused.

The cat had gone on to explain that when he was making the finishing touches to the game he had created this underworld and hidden it from Akihiko's prying eyes. Of course when he had been fired he took most of the coding knowledge with him, so when the game launched he logged in with full GM capabilities. What he hadn't counted on was Kayaba locking everyone in the game. Of course he had thought that with GM access he could easily log out if he wanted.

He was wrong. Kayaba Akihiko had assumed he would be the only GM in the game and locked that access while retaining all other powers that the position offered.

"So he's still in here?" Sky had asked, to which the cat answered 'Of course'. However the creature would not elaborate, he only continued with his story. He waited for players to come to this floor, spawned the white rabbit to lure them to the entrance of Wonderland. And there they were.

It was a quest line titled Alice's Trial in Wonderland. He was the quest giver and he had been less than helpful in directions.

"The quest information says to go to the town of Suits. How do we get there?"

"Well that depends on where you want to go?"

"The town!"

"The where?"

"Never mind!" The guild leader screamed, forcing her hands to her sides, lest she rip her hair out.

"Well then it really doesn't matter which way you go," The cat grinned and then slowly vanished as the party left. His voice could still be heard echoing through the clearing. "All mimsy were ye borogoves; And ye mome raths outgrabe."

So the Oath Keepers had wandered down the paths that crisscrossed through the forests, they had made the mistake of following a sign once only to have it bring them back to the exact same spot.

"Almost makes me miss the forest on the seventy fourth floor," Vlinn muttered. "At least there was a single path through that one." His companions grunted as they walked around a tree that was easily as large around as their house.

The sun hung low in the sky and its dull orange light was casting shadows across anything that stood against it. Cronan glanced at the lengthening shadows and grimaced. The cat had given them a time limit with their mission.

They had to save Alice from her execution within fourteen days. If they could complete the quest the insane GM would send them back to the over-world. If not then they were stuck in wonderland until someone beat the game. _If_ they beat the game.

Of course they had already started at a handicap; when they fell into the hole they had been rendered unconscious for a full day and the quest started as soon as they entered Wonderland.

"Thirteen days and the sun is already setting," Vlinn muttered. "We are _seriously_ going to need to haul ass. Are we going through the night or should we set up camp?" He glanced at his leader who was tapping her finger violently against her swords hilt.

"We're just going to get lost in these woods if we keep walking at night," She surmised.

"We're already lost," Cronan said. She ignored him and pointed at a small circle of trees that formed a miniature clearing.

"We'll set up camp there for tonight." And so the small guild went about making a small campfire and eating a dinner of the meager rations they had brought. Hopefully there would be some supply shops at the supposed town.

"Do we even bother setting up a watch shift?" Sky mused aloud. "It's not like there are players here."

"We still don't know what kind of monsters are around," Cronan replied, poking at the fire. Embers sparked to life and danced through the air, spiraling around each other hypnotically. Sky watched them until they dimmed out of existence.

"I'll take last watch; you two can decide who gets first and second." A quick game of rock-paper-scissors gave Vlinn the first watch that night and after a few minutes his comrades crawled into their sleeping bags and were soon asleep.

The forest in its darkened state was far less friendly than it had been only hours prior. At one point Vlinn was almost positive that the ground had moved, although when the night remained still he simply dismissed it as tiredness playing tricks with him.

Cronan eventually relieved him, finding little comfort in the still darkness of the forest that had trapped them so effectively. He too felt the earth shift slightly beneath him but before he could wake the others it had once again stilled itself (of course he did not know that the ground had already moved once before). The warrior-smith shrugged it off; it wasn't the first weird thing they had seen today.

Finally during Sky's watch the light of day began to filter in through the tree tops casting a soft rosy light around the clearing. The warm light and gentle breeze lulled Sky, numbing her senses and eventually casting her into a light sleep.

"Beware the Momerath," The cat's voice whispered into her ear. The swordswoman snapped awake just as the earth lifted beneath them a final time. The violent upheaval awoke the other two but the sudden upward force sent them flying harmlessly through the air.

"What the hell is that?" Cronan cried before hitting the ground with an audible gasp. An ocean of dirt slid off of the monstrosity that stood before them. The tortoise stood at an impressive ten feet, its coppery scales gleamed in the dull morning light. Its shell spiraled up into a point and as it took a heavy step forward it gnashed its shark like teeth.

The creature's head darted at Sky, faster than her throwing knives, and had she not already drawn Yama, the Momerath would have easily chomped her in half. Instead the heavy blade managed to deflect the long serrated teeth, at the cost of Sky's stability. The swordswoman was thrown backwards into a tree and as her spine hit the unyielding bark she felt the air _whoosh_ out of her lungs.

Before the monster could advance toward her Vlinn dashed past it, creating a large red gash across its nose. The beast hesitated for a moment, unsure of which target it wanted to devour first. In its moment of pause Cronan took advantage of the stillness and leapt from his vantage point on a thick tree branch. His blade trailed gold as he brought it down on the monsters neck.

Monstrous head was separated from thick, sinewy neck. The Momerath's mouth shuttered open once as if it wanted to cry out in pain. Instead the clearing was filled with the ringing of polygons. As the body floated away loot screens sprang to life in front of the disheveled players.

For Vlinn and Cronan the only thing on the screen was a meager amount of experience points. They dismissed the screens with flicks of their hands and went about cleaning their campsite, no reason to stay here any longer now that the sun had risen.

Sky however was busy looking at the item that had been placed in her loot window. A small bronze compass sat in her hand, the needle pointed off slightly to her left. There were no directions painted on its face, instead it was decorated with the four different suits of a deck of cards, much like her guild symbol. A chuckle above her drew the woman's attention to a tree branch where the Cheshire cat was sprawled. He gave her a wink before slowly disappearing leaving only a grin for a brief moment.

"Twas bryllyg, and ye slythy toves, did gyre and gymble in ye wabe: All mimsy were ye borogoves; and ye mome raths outgrabe."

She approached her guild-mates, compass in hand.

"I think I found our way out."

With the compass in hand the guild found that navigating through the forest was a much easier affair. They had no idea which direction they were going (Cronan was adamant that they were moving in a north-west direction) but it didn't really matter, just so long as they got _the hell_ out of the forest.

As they navigated through the now brightening forest Cronan drifted a fair distance behind Sky, pulling Vlinn with him. Sky watched curiously out of the corner of her eyes as Cronan brought up his menu and they spoke in rushed, whispered tones. She was about to begin the interrogation when she spotted the exit.

As they left the forest soft green spread out before them as if an artist had spilled their tray. Meadows spread out as far as their vision parameter would allow them to see and in the middle sat a rather robust looking town.

Person and animal alike roamed the cobblestone streets, chatting amicably, window shopping or just enjoying the day in one of the many cafés.

"Damn," Cronan said, peering around the saturated streets. "This place is a little livelier than I would have expected…Is that a frog in a waist coat?!" And indeed it was. Many of the animals were human sized and carried on scripted conversations with the NPCs and they wore only the finest garments. "This place is great…"

The town itself seemed to be made mostly out of stone, which made no sense considering it was located in the middle of an expansive meadow. Then again nothing made much sense in Wonderland.

"We should find an inn," Sky said distantly, her eyes were scanning the crowds, taking in the NPCs and the buildings. Her teammates agreed with her and after stopping to ask for directions (from a very dapper grasshopper) they found the only inn in the town.

It was a simple wooden building with a pub-like atmosphere, over the door hung a sign that depicted a large black bird with a quill in its beak; the sign read "The Raven and Writing Desk".

"Weird name for a pub," Sky muttered as they pushed through the heavy door. As expected the first floor was a bar/restaurant, the NPC owner was a rather heavy man with a mustache that curled ridiculously at the tips. After renting their room they figured it would be prudent to search the town for their next clue. As soon as they left the inn Sky's guild abandoned her, rushing down the street and turning a corner before she could even decide which way she wanted to go.

Her immediate thought was to follow after them but she decided it was best to just let them do as they would, besides they were long gone at that point and she did not feel like exerting the energy needed to track them down.

Blowing out a sharp, frustrated sigh the swordswoman stalked down one of the narrower side streets that crisscrossed the town. The cobblestones of the street had quite obviously shifted from lack of maintenance and as she entered the alley like road there was a noticeable lack of sunshine that brought a chill to the ramshackle alley.

 _Classic creepy alley looked rather nice from the outside._ The swordswoman involuntarily shivered and she found her hand moving to pull her muffler tighter about her face. Her hand grasped only empty air, Sky cursed at herself for letting a habit rule her so easily.

She hadn't had a scarf for weeks, not since that damned Xaxa had cut hers, _bastard_. She had been meaning to replace it but they had not found the time to make a trip down to Ashley's Tailor shop, even Cronan had yet to visit Lisbeth and her shop was on the same floor. Sky sniffed and wrapped her arms around herself, just to preserve heat until she made it to the other side of the alley.

Halfway through the alley, a dilapidated sign caught her eye, _there was a store here?_ The door was boarded up but the bay window still had several mannequins displaying hats of varying fashions. Hanging over the door and window was a large green top hat, across the brim read "The Hatter's".

The swordswoman peered intently through the window, past the mannequins, hoping to catch a glimpse of what the shop actually looked like. A reflection next to her caught her attention, in the glass she saw a pair of eyes and a smile resting on her shoulder.

She fought _so_ hard to repress her shriek of surprise, producing instead a rather undignified squeak.

"After-eve-morn," The cat declared, tipping one of the hats he had stolen off of one of the plastic models. "And how are you on this fine duration of sunlight?"

"Must you do that?"

"I _suppose_ I must not do anything," The cat materialized the rest of his body and gently floated lazy circles around Sky's head. "Although I will admit it gives me a grim sense of satisfaction doing what you players cannot?"

"So you're breaking character now?" The swordwoman's hand moved instinctively to Yama's hilt.

"What character?" The cat rolled onto his back (his mouth spun so he was _still_ smiling at her) and stared at her as his eyes rotated around each other.

"You're _insane_ ," Sky hissed, she gripped the hilt so hard that her knuckles turned white, a few calming breaths was all that was holding her from unleashing her dragon blade.

"Hmm," The Cheshire cat tapped his chin thoughtfully…with his toes. "Well it's better than being _out-sane_ , is it not?" As the crazy hit her brain the woman felt her eye twitch.

"I don't know how to deal with you," She said, finally releasing her sword and turning to leave the alleyway.

"Were you not curious about this shop?" The woman paused briefly, craning her neck to look at the cat. He sat on the window ledge, tail curled about his paws, looking almost like a proper cat. Sky made no move to leave and so the creature continued. "It belonged to a man that made…well, hats. His business thrived and the entirety of Wonderland wore his latest and greatest. Except the queen, nothing should grace her hat except a crown; nothing could look more fabulous than _her_ fashion. And when the queen decided that the Hatter was committing treason she took something of his as collateral for the crime, his lover.

"The Queen forced her to make whatever her majesty wanted; did you know that hatter's use mercury to cure their leathers?" Sky nodded slowly, trying to swallow past the lump in her throat. "His lover had such fair skin…the Queen made a bargain with him you know, craft her a crown of peerless beauty and she would release his love. Oh how the poor artisan worked but he was only a hatter. As he worked himself into madness so too did his love. They both lost their sanity; the Hatter never finished the crown…"

"So where is he?" Sky asked as she gazed at the mannequins. A soft chuckle from the cat grabbed her attention.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that just yet," He smiled mischievously at her and slowly faded from view.

"But what happened to his wife?"

"There are answers that are better left for you to find on your own," The Cheshire cat's voice echoed through the alley, slowly drifting into silence. Sky sat in the quiet for a moment, taking in the information, was it just lore for the area? Or did it have some significance? She turned toward the entrance only to come nose to nose with the damn cat.

"Fuck!" She leapt back, wrenching Yama from its sheath as she did.

"I forgot to mention; you'll be running into somebody important in about," The cat paused and checked his watch-less wrist. "Some time…Ta Ta!" And he once again faded from view, leaving his grin to disappear last.

Sky didn't hesitate to sprint out of the alley, slamming her sword back in its scabbard as she did. The swordswoman was sent sprawling as soon as she set foot onto the street.

" _Excuse_ me!" A nasally voice whined. "Could you watch where you are going? I am very late!" Gritting her teeth Sky set her glare on a very large, well dressed white…rabbit…

" _You_!" The guild-leader hissed as she clambered to her feet. "It's _your_ fault we're stuck here!" The rabbit paused as he was dusting off his red vest and examined her with soft pink eyes set behind small spectacles.

"Do watch where you are going from now on," He sniffed; the rabbit produced a small silver pocket watch from the pocket on his vest and gasped. "Oh no, oh no! I'm late, I'm late!" The bunny dropped to all fours and raced through the streets.

"Get back here!" Sky demanded, racing after him. The rabbit moved quickly through the crowds and soon the NPCs choked up the streets too much, forcing her to move to the roofs. A quick leap onto an umbrella and from their up higher brought her to the top of a café. Her eyes scanned the crowds hungrily. Her prey was rather easy to spot, his white fur made him stick out against the grey of the city. So Sky followed after him, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, sometimes even making her way atop street lamps, using them as stepping stones.

The creature soon led her out of the city, forcing her to drop to the ground and follow from there to the suburbs of the Town of Suits. Several houses dotted the landscape within a five mile radius of the town and the rabbit lead her to the second closest one. Most of it lay in shambles.

The two story home was humble (or rather it used to be) as far as size went. The first floor had been made of the same stone as the town; the second floor on the other hand used to be of wood with a straw roof. The wood was painted white, however the entirety of the house; stone, wood or straw was accented in pink. Large pieces of stone or wood lay strewn about the rabbit's extensive garden.

Sky slowed as she approached her quarry, sinking into a crouch so her Hiding skill would activate. The rabbit stood next to an upright walking lizard and they were in a heated debate (which was to say that the rabbit was yelling at the lizard who simply hung his head low).

"This should have been taken care of hours ago Bill!" The White Rabbit's ears stood erect and his tiny little puffball tail wiggled with anxiety.

"I know sir!" The lizard replied, his simple clothes were stained with soot and he wore his flat cap slightly to the side, though Sky doubted it was purposeful. "I 'aven't been able to get at the materials, wot wif all the grounds keeping you're making me do!"

"Bill that is your _job_ , I expect all this to be taken care of when I get back!" The creature pulled his pocket watch out and inspected the face. "Oh dear, oh dear, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" And with that he scampered away just as Sky pounced. The guild-leader missed by a good several feet and she wound up face first in the dirt path.

"Damn it all!" She growled through a mouthful of soil.

"Uh…you a'right miss?" The lizard, Bill, asked. _Frickin' peachy._

"Yes, I'm fine," Sky said as she lifted herself up. "How about yourself? Your employer seemed to be giving you a hard time." Bill glanced after his boss uncomfortably.

"E' 'as a rather stressful job, being the queens herald and such an' jus' the other day we 'ad a giant jus' up and blow up an' destroy 'is 'ouse. We thought it were 'is maid Mary-Anne, turns out it were an _imposter._ "

"Serpent!" A voice cried above them, to which Bill sighed in exasperation.

"Any-how, the master wants me to fix this by tonight," He sighed, gestured to the debris and leaned against the rake he was holding. "I jus' dun 'ave time ta gets it."

"Get what?" Sky asked, carefully dusting herself off.

"Jus' materials from the carpenter," Bill mumbled.

"Perhaps we can help each other," A coy smile began to curl its way onto the guild-leaders lips. "I need information and perhaps you can provide it. I need to know about the queen and her castle."

"Well," The lizard began slowly. "I dun know much about that, but the Caterpillar might. You go on down to the shore and get my order and I'll tell you where you can find 'im, yeah?"

"Deal," The swordswoman grinned and shook his scaly hand. With the interaction complete the lizard returned to his chores and a quest marker flared to life on her map, _perfect._

She followed the road for almost an hour before finally approaching the shore line, was it an ocean or just a very large lake? A deep fog lay across the waters and no matter how hard she stared she could not see the other side.

"Curiouser and curiouser," She mumbled to herself as she made her way to a ramshackle shed that sat just out of the tides reach. A quest marker floated above the barely held together building. The door squeaked loudly as the player swung it in and as she entered Sky was immediately assaulted by the smell of oysters.

The stench almost brought tears to her eyes, as she reached up to pinch her nose closed she took in the sight of the tiny building's interior. A walrus sat at a shabby wooden table, dabbing at the corners of his mouth with a napkin. Seated across from him was a short, skinny man with a tool belt strapped about his waist.

"Excuse me," Sky coughed, even inhaling through her mouth was dangerous in this house. "Are you the carpenter?" The man glanced over at her and tossed the toothpick he had just been using over his shoulder.

"Indeed I am miss," He burped; Sky did not bother trying to hide her disgust. "What might you need of me?"

"I'm here to pick up an order for…Bill," The swordswoman was forced to pause and grasp at the memory of the lizard's name. You would think someone would remember the name of a six foot tall, talking lizard.

"Ah," The carpenter mumbled. "Right, I have that right over here." As the man scooted his chair back you saw him shoot the walrus a glare to which the raggedly dressed creature simply smiled back. Sky watched as the carpenter backed toward the doorway that he had indicated earlier, his eyes flicking between the creature and the unfinished bowl of oysters. When he disappeared around the corner the walrus moved much faster than Sky would have given him credit for. In mere seconds the dish was empty and the walrus was once again dabbing his napkin at his mouth.

The scrawny carpenter returned with a burden of lumber loaded onto a cart and upon seeing the empty bowl, gasped. He dropped the handle of the cart and instead grasped the hammer that hung at his belt. The walrus seeing the aggressive movement leapt to its overly large flippers and began backing toward the door.

"Now, now old chap," The creature rumbled hastily. "It was just a mistake!"

"And it won't happen again!" The carpenter roared, brandishing his weapon of choice. Before the man could take a step the walrus rushed out the door at his surprising speed. "You'll get yours!" Sky watched the encounter with mild amusement, until the carpenter turned to her, face flushed. "That'll be sixty thousand Col." The guild-leader felt her mouth pop open.

"E-excuse me?"

"Sixty thousand Col," The scrawny man repeated, holding out his hand expectantly.

"But I…Bill should have…o-or the rabbit? They should have paid you already!"

"It was a pay on delivery order. It's been delivered. Now pay for it!" The carpenter's grip tightened on his hammer and Sky took an involuntary step back.

"I don't have that kind of money," She protested. The man's eyes narrowed briefly and he tapped chin thoughtfully.

"You look like a girl who can take care of herself." The man ran an appreciative eye over her assets…that sword was of _magnificent_ quality. Sky covered herself in disgust; this guy was not giving off a good vibe. "Tell you what, do a couple jobs for me and we'll call it even."

"A good deal, no?" A familiar voice whispered into her ear. Sky jumped as the cat's head materialized at her shoulder.

"Must you do that!?" Sky hissed.

"Do what?" The cat's head slowly drifted and rotated around her head, like something caught in a planet's gravitational pull. "If you follow the little mini quest line you'll get the quest item and you and your friends will be one step closer to going home." His head disappeared only to re-materialize nose to nose with Sky.

"But have you given thought to how long that quest line will take? Let me inform you; you'll have to collect oysters for him by fighting giant clams. And then you'll have to kill the walrus, who is quite far away and protected by a gauntlet of creatures. With no map of this world these quests will take you at _least_ a day or two, even longer if you decide to involve your friends."

"We don't have that kind of time…" Sky muttered, biting her lip. She threw a glance at the carpenter who appeared to have frozen, no doubt the cat's influence.

"Hmm," Cheshire tapped one of his fingers (toes?) against his chin thoughtfully as he rotated in the air. "You are quite right, that would take away precious time that you do not have. Although…there is another option. Check your quest menu…" Her menu leapt into existence, unbidden, in front of her. Hesitantly, the woman navigated her way to her quest page and touched the icon that indicated her current quest.

 _Accept the Carpenters offer. Or kill the Carpenter and take the delivery._

Sky's eyes widened slightly, _kill_? She had never had a quest that actively wanted the player to harm an NPC like that. She shifted her gaze to the _thing_ floating in front of her (currently picking his nose with his toe). He smiled that damn smile at her.

"I have always loved choices in games, the repercussions, the moral compass and the reactions of companions! I often pestered Kayaba to let me put a few quests like that in but he would never go for it."

"So you're Nomura again?" Instead of answering he disappeared only to end up above the Carpenter.

"Well?" Sky could only glare at him and grind her teeth. This should _not_ have to be a hard choice, the man wasn't _real_! And the longer they took in this world the greater the chance of being trapped there. So why was she hesitating? Because this was an innocent life? _No!_ The _program_ was hardly innocent (let alone a life), it had just been brandishing a hammer at her, just been _threatening_ her.

She was a guild-leader; she needed to do what was best for her guild-mates. She gripped Yama's hilt tightly. In a flash of red the Carpenter's head was separated from his body, the head had time to gape at her in shock before his entirety exploded into polygons.

The cat smiled at her.

And then a hot knife of pain was driven straight into her brain. Sky crumpled to the ground, screaming in agony.

"Did I forget to mention the hidden parameter in Wonderland?" The Cheshire cat sniffed, itching his ear non-chalantly. "There are always consequences for your actions; your _sanity_ is always at stake here. Be careful not to make too many terrible choices or you'll end up like the rest of the citizens of this wondrous world."

"You see," He moved closer to her ear so he could whisper. "We're _all_ mad here." By the time the cat had faded from existence Sky had curled into a ball, hands grasping at her head, warm tears spilling out of her eyes. For what felt like hours she laid there, waiting for the pain to subside…and eventually it did.

She took her time bringing the supplies to Bill the lizard; strangely darkness had yet to fall. When she did finally arrive at the Rabbit's house she dropped the cart's handle in front of the handyman wordlessly.

"Oi! You got 'em fer me!" The lizard declared, tail twitching excitedly. He began rummaging through his pockets, finally producing a map. "'Ere I marked the Caterpillars grove on this 'ere map, 'e should be able to answer _any_ question you 'ave. Thanks a bunch, gov!" Sky just took the map and nodded in response, which the System took to mean acceptance and the lizard went back to work, seemingly forgetting about her.

The swordswoman trudged her way back to town and to the inn, ignoring the tavern keeper and any NPC that tried to converse with her. She simply made her way to her room and collapsed onto the feather mattress and pressed her face into the pillow.

It had been so long since she felt actual pain; it was easy to forget what scarring felt like. Her hands moved to cradle her head gently, until someone knocked on her door. Cursing inwardly the swordswoman made her way slowly to the door. Opening it revealed her guild-mates, both wearing grins that almost matched the damn cat.

"Happy Birthday!" They shouted, setting off small party crackers.

"Birthday?" Sky's voice cracked slightly as if she hadn't used it in a long time.

"Did you forget?" Cronan chuckled, pushing into her room, Vlinn followed behind holding a large cake.

"You would _not_ believe how many bakeries there are in this town," The red armored player said, setting the pastry on the small table in the corner of her room. Sky continued to stare at them blankly.

"You actually forgot," Cronan said, he smirked at her. "Bring up your menu and check the date if you don't believe us." Sky made no movement but slowly a small smile appeared on her face.

"Presents!" Vlinn declared flicking open his menu and Cronan nodded in agreement doing the same. Vlinn stepped forward holding out a closed fist for her, she cupped her hands beneath and he dropped a small necklace into her hands. The charm on the chain was an exact replica of their guilds symbol, Sky wasted no time equipping the accessory and glancing at her reflection in the washbasins mirror.

As she was admiring the small charm Cronan draped her other present over her shoulders; a new, brilliantly crimson scarf. She preferred dark colors as it made it easier for her hiding skill to keep her cloaked in shadows. But as she gazed at the beautiful blood red wool she could not help but feel as if it completed her armor perfectly. And again her smile widened as she adjusted it, pulling it tightly so that it covered her face (below her eyes), the rest of the length fell just above her ankles.

"When?" She asked, turning to her friends.

"Oh we've had these gifts for weeks," Vlinn said, waving his hand dismissively. "They aren't much but we figured you were missing your old scarf." Sky smiled again and pulled them both into a hug, forgetting for a moment what had transpired that day.


	31. Questions Unanswered

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties. I also hold no ownership of Alice in Wonderland in anyway nor am i claiming such.**

 ** _Questions Unanswered_**

 ** _October 19_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 1:35 pm_**

They had left at sunrise, which had been heralded by a great many roosters, much to the players' vexation. With a map of Wonderland now in hand the guild finally had a visual of the land, which, to their horror, was easily the size of the first floor (which to say the least was rather large).

"How can he even fit something of that size on Aincrad? Much less hide it from Kayaba!" Cronan had sputtered over breakfast that morning.

"Have you ever heard of the pocket dimension theory?" The cat asked from the fourth chair of their table as he swiped some jam across a piece of toast.

" _I wasn't asking you!"_

They followed the quest marker out of town later that morning with Vlinn running point, Cronan took rear guard so Sky could have time to look over the map. She spoke up often, informing them of their relative position or of the small geographical intricacies of Wonderland.

"As it turns out that forest we popped into was called Tulgey Woods." Sky said, pointing at the marker on her map, not that anyone was actually looking. "It looks like it wraps around the entire floor, so I guess we're kind of in a giant clearing." Vlinn grunted, hand resting easily on Enrapture's pommel. The path they currently travelled took them south out of the Town of Suits, eventually the flat prairie shifted almost abruptly into a hilly landscape and the guild found that the path never went around the particularly large hills, instead opting to continue its steady course straight.

"I hate hills so much," The red armored player grumbled, his breathing was labored and behind him his guild-mates kept an attentive watch to make sure he didn't collapse on them. Cronan's eyes roamed the hills, ever watchful for-

"Your money or your life," A smooth voice purred, Cronan felt the sharp edge of a blade rested on the side of his neck.

Bandits… Shit.

In front of him Cronan saw that his friends were in similar positions. Two huge men in red and yellow suspenders had taken positions beside each of the players. The men, twins, wore small propeller caps, the only difference between the two was their choice of weapons, an axe and a hammer, both monstrously proportioned.

"Now, if you would be so kind as to produce any money or valuables that you have we can all be on our way." The soft voice behind Cronan said. Vlinn sighed in exasperation.

"We don't have time for _this_ ," He said, hand inching toward his Hanger sword.

"Ah ah," The woman (Cronan had chanced a glance behind himself) said, signaling the hulk in front of Vlinn to move closer. "No aggressive movements or my boys here will be forced to intervene and you wouldn't like that." Vlinn stared at the woman in astonishment, Cronan swore he saw one of his eyes twitch.

"Who the _hell_ do you think you are?"

"Ah, now that's a question I can answer," The woman, slim and blonde, hair brought into a tight pony tail, bowed while still keeping her rapier pressed to Cronan's neck. "My name is Mary-Anne; I used to be a maid for a certain rabbit but that life got boring quickly, so I took to a new profession, one that suits my particular set of _talents_. My associates there are Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee, say hi boys."

"Now you see she's got that wrong," The axe user said, his voice had a surprisingly high lilt to it. "I'm actually Tweedle-Dum and _he's_ Tweedle-Dee."

"Contrary-wise," The twin added. "I'm Tweedle-Dee and he's Tweedle-Dum."

"This isn't happening," Vlinn mumbled into his hand, which was now covering his face.

"Vlinn," Sky spoke up, her voice commanding and insistent. "Anytime you want to take the pressure off of Cronan would be great."

"We taking the twin Tweedles?" Cronan said, moving his neck slightly away from the rapier. Sky only nodded, Cronan heard Mary-Anne scoff behind him.

"Those are some confident words for people that are-" The maid turned bandit found herself cut off as the point of Enrapture rested on her collar bone. Cronan had already begun moving the second he saw Vlinn disappear, the twins hadn't moved as they stared at the ground where Vlinn had been in confusion.

Sky took advantage of their lapse in judgment, leaping high over the twins, somersaulting and landing directly behind the hammer wielder, Yama drew an angry red scar down the giant's back as she landed. As soon as her feet touched the ground the swordswoman was moving again, diving to the side to avoid any kind of counterstrike, not that she needed to worry.

Cronan had reached them by the time Sky made her swift get away; he launched a punch into Tweedle-Dee's rotund stomach, his fist glowing a brilliant yellow. Sky watched the rolls of fat vibrate as Cronan's fist sunk deep into the giant's gut. And then the axe user shot backwards several tens of feet, taking his brother with him. Smirking Sky rushed to finish them, tracing red lines across their throats.

"That was surprisingly easy," Cronan remarked, turning to find the bandit woman on her knees, rapier several feet away from her.

"Mercy," She called, shielding her face with her arms. "Please sir, just let me go, I won't bother you again." Vlinn tilted his head to the side, glancing at his partners for input. Cronan shrugged but Sky's brow furrowed. As Vlinn returned his attention to the young woman a small alert popped into existence just inside his peripherals.

The red armored player opened his menu to find it already on the quest menu. _Let Mary-Anne go; Return her to the White Rabbit's house; Kill her._

"What the hell is this," Vlinn muttered, reading through the options again. He turned to his guild and raised his voice. "Sky, do you know how long it would take for us to get to the White Rabbit's house?"

"Too long… why?" His guild-leader's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Vlinn frowned and returned his attention to the woman who was quivering slightly.

"Let me give you a hint," A voice whispered in his ear. "If you let her go she's going to continue with bandit-y ways." Vlinn turned, a snarl already on his lips but there was nobody there. He turned his attention again to the girl, with the new information it seemed like there was only one choice. Vlinn raised his blade, collecting color to the blade.

"Vlinn no!" Sky shouted rushing forward and grabbing his arm. The speedster blinked in confusion and relaxed his elbow, cutting of the sword skill.

"What?"

"There are choices on this floor, dangerous ones." Sky relayed all of the information she had received from the Cheshire cat the day before, putting heavy emphasis on the loss of their sanity.

"No wonder he wanted me to kill her." Vlinn mused, rubbing his chin.

"He went all out on this floor didn't he," Cronan chuckled. "So I guess we should let her go." The warrior gestured at the prostrated girl and then looked expectantly at Vlinn. Ignoring him Vlinn approached the woman.

"Get out of my sight," He said, nudging her not-so-gently in her ribs. The woman said nothing, simply fled. The guild watched her until she disappeared over a particularly large hill. "Well, I guess that settles-" Vlinn cut himself off with a feral growl, his hands leapt to his skull and he dropped to a knee.

"Son of a _bitch_!" He growled, cradling his head. The pain he was feeling was nothing compared to the deep scar Sky had suffered but the fact that he was feeling any at all was enough to concern the guild. After a few minutes the pain subsided and Vlinn stumbled to his feet. " _Apparently_ the only right choice was taking her to the rabbit."

Without another word Vlinn stormed down the path toward their destination, taking point once again. No one spoke as they resumed their journey, each player lost to their own contemplations. By the time they reached the entrance to their destination the sun had sunk low in the sky; or rather the large glowing stone on the ceiling was much closer to the end of its cycle.

There was no opening to the actual sky on this floor, much like the twenty-seventh floor. Instead the time and light was governed by two enormous glow stones, the greater went through its cycle during the day and the lesser at night. The two stones were present constantly as the sun made up the hour hand (and the moon the minute) of the giant clock face that was carved into the floors ceiling. When it was time to switch one stone would glow and the other would stop.

The dying light was still enough to illuminate the large copse in front of them. However trees did not tower around them, instead the guild stood at the foot of a giant flower. Vlinn was the first to end the silence.

"I think it's a daffodil." Sky favored him with a withering glare while Cronan snorted. "Just offering an opinion…"

"I think our train of thought shouldn't so much be directed at what kind of flower it is." Sky grumbled. "But more along the lines of _why the hell are there flowers this big_!?"

"Seriously?" Cronan deadpanned. "We were in a town with aristocratically dressed animals that can talk. We are being followed by an insane cat that can vanish on a whim. And _this_ is where you draw the line?" Vlinn chuckled and led the way into the grove, Cronan followed closely while Sky trailed along, grumbling and glaring at the flowers suspiciously.

The path they currently traveled was the only one present in or out of the grove. The dirt track led them into the center in which stood a house sized mushroom. Smoke swirled about the clearing, The Caterpillar's Grove as Sky had called it, Vlinn cocked his head to the side curiously as the smoke (which was multi-colored) curled about Sky like a cat welcoming it's master home. Vlinn winced inwardly, terrible choice of a simile.

Atop the mushroom sat the Caterpillar, its rounded body was a deep shade of blue and the creature stretched easily to at least 10 feet. It was busying itself by adding colorful plants to its large hookah, occasionally spitting out a stream of rainbow smoke. As they approached he finished putting the construct back together and turned his attention to the players that intruded on his grove.

"And who _are_ you?" The Caterpillar exhaled heavily, encompassing the three of them in a large rainbow colored smoke ring. Vlinn clamped his jaw shut to keep from coughing as Sky stepped slightly closer to the giant mushroom.

"We are looking for information concerning the Red Castle." The Caterpillar regarded her for but a moment before blowing a steady stream of thick smoke at her. The swordswoman didn't react; simply let the rainbow colored opaque-ness curl about her. The Caterpillars only reaction was to lazily lift one eyebrow.

"Why does it have eyebrows?" Cronan whispered at Vlinn.

"No idea but it's freaking me out," He hissed back.

"You did not answer my question," The insect was careful to enunciate his sentence. "Who are _you_?"

"We are trying to save Alice-"

"And again you do not answer my question," The Caterpillar huffed deeply, filling the clearing with more smoke.

"M'feeling a little light headed," Vlinn said dizzily. Cronan grabbed his shoulder to steady him.

"Come on prom queen it's just a little smoke."

"I am afraid I do not understand your question then," Sky continued, still unaffected by the smoke.

"I _suppose_ you wouldn't," The blue bug sighed. "If you can't answer even _one_ of my questions then how dare you have the forthrightness to beg an answer of me-" He was cut off by a bloodcurdling roar, the guild whipped around to find the huge flowers being pushed aside.

"Oh what the hell," Vlinn groaned and wrenched his sword out of its scabbard woozily (and almost losing his arm for the trouble). Cronan steadied his friend again before bringing his fists into an offensive position. Yama was in Sky's hands before anyone could blink; smoke swirled hungrily about the blade. They waited, watching as collapsing flowers marked the passage of whatever was barreling toward them.

The beast was more jaws than anything and Vlinn would have sworn that that was all it was had he not caught a glimpse of the short but sinewy body behind the massive head.

"The hell is that?" Cronan shouted brining a fist back into a skill position. Nobody had an answer but the Caterpillar leaned forward slightly, intrigued. His hookah sat forgotten as the beast charged Cronan. The warrior's fist flashed downward, driving the creature's maw into the dirt of the clearing. With the beast's movement paused Vlinn tried to take advantage, stepping forward to launch a charging skill…only to slip and wind up face down and boots up.

"It's always you," Sky sighed, leaping over her companions. Her katana gleamed brilliantly as it stabbed down into the creature. The swordswoman wasted no time bouncing away as the monster finally righted itself and set its jaws to snapping. Sky was long gone by the time it had managed to turn around.

"So you can't spin then," Cronan laughed, snapping his foot into it's ribs. Jaws yelped and meandered its way around to Cronan, gnashing its teeth the whole time. The warrior-smith simply smiled as his guild-leader leapt behind it, tracing angry lines along the monster's back. It howled in pain until Cronan brought both fists down over it's jaw, silencing it completely.

"I don't feel good," Vlinn mumbled into the ground as red pixels floated into Wonderland's ceiling. Sky rolled her eyes and gestured at him, Cronan pulled Vlinn up to his knees with a chuckle. The red armored player was looking a little green in the face; Sky grimaced and took a step further from him.

"Can we vomit here?" Sky's face was taking on a shade of green of its own.

"I don't think so," Cronan grinned. "I saw a player down three barrels of ale once; if that doesn't make you blow chunks here I don't think anything will." He gave their sickly friend a gentle pat on the back as Sky turned her attention to the Caterpillar.

"So," He said, smoking streaming from his mouth once again. "You managed to fend off a Bandersnatch, an applaudable feat."

"Will you answer our questions now?" Sky asked over the soft hiss of her sword sliding back into its scabbard. The insect watched her for a moment, finger tapping against the hose of his hookah in contemplation.

"I suppose my life for a few trivial questions is a fair trade," He blew out a smoke ring. "You may have three questions." Sky and Cronan exchanged brief glances before the warrior nodded in deference to his leader, it was her call.

"How do we get into the Red Queen's castle?"

"Ah," The bug sighed, puffing on his hose. "The Queen of Heart's, her abode is not without security. By all means it is the most guarded place in all of Wonderland, only the staff is allowed in and their prisoners have only the briefest of glimpses at its workings." The Caterpillar paused to blow out his rainbow smoke which slowly shifted into a detailed model of a palace with soaring spires and a thick outer wall.

"In order to get inside you must be able to cross the moat that protects it; no ordinary moat to be sure, it is far too wide to swim across in a day and the currents carry any craft into the rocks that make up the coast line of either side, then of course there are the creatures that lie within its depths."

"Right, so avoid the moat," Sky said, making a face. She noticed the Caterpillar staring pointedly at her and grimaced sheepishly. "Sorry, no more interruptions."

"I should hope not," More rainbow smoke thickened the air and soon it shaped into a creature with wings. "There is no drawbridge or doorway into the castle, the only transportation in or out of the Red Castle is the Gryphon. A beast that the queen found as an egg, she raised and trained it herself. However loyal the creature is, its fault lies in the fact that it is a simple beast. It was trained to respond to a horn and a phrase. Blow the horn to summon it, say one of the passphrases and it will carry you inside the castle." Sky opened her mouth to ask her next question but the Caterpillar stopped her with several of his arms.

"Before you ask no, I do not know the passphrase, I _do_ however know who does and I know the location of the horn. The Knave of Hearts carries the horn on his person whenever he dispenses the Queen's justice, which is almost always. You will find him roaming Wonderland quite often. As for the carrier of the phrase, there is only one. A creature who used to be a part of the Queen's council; the Mockturtle."

Sky waited several seconds to see if the Caterpillar was indeed finished before speaking.

"Can you show us where the Mockturtle is?" The Caterpillar was shaking his head before she had even finished.

"Unfortunately not even _I_ know where he is, I do however, know the man who has his location." The smoke in the air brightened and coalesced into a top hat that floated down onto the Caterpillars head before dissipating. "The Mad Hatter." The Hatter…Sky's eyes glazed over as her mind drifted back to the Cheshire cat's story.

"Where is he," She asked quietly. A curious smile crossed the insect's face and he reached out with several of his hands.

"Give me your map and I will mark down the location for you." A familiar chiming rang in Sky's ears, signaling a new quest marker had appeared in their current quest line. "Now, it is late, feel free to rest in my home. Now is not the time to be out and about within my grove; that was not the only Bandersnatch to haunt these parts." Sky nodded her thanks and started for the door bolted to the mushroom, she heard a groan as Cronan hefted their friend onto his shoulders.

"Gonna hurl," Vlinn mumbled pathetically.

"Please don't," Sky hissed, holding open the door for Cronan.

Their destination was of course, clear on the other side of the floor, in another portion of the forest that circled the floor. Which meant more walking…around hills.

"I hate hills," Vlinn grumbled for perhaps the three hundredth…four hundredth time? Cronan had lost count a _long_ time ago.

"Perfectly aware, thank you," The blacksmith snapped. He was answered with more grumbling but at a blessedly lower volume.

"I'm kind of inclined to agree with him," Sky remarked, from behind Cronan. "This landscape is rather tortuous."

"It's a shame there's no muscle growth in this game," The warrior eyed his much shorter friend. "Otherwise we would have the sexiest calves in all of Aincrad."

"You would also be a half-ton mega hulk," Vlinn remarked. "And that would just be awkward to see, I still have nightmares about your avatar's abs."

"The glory days," Cronan said in mock nostalgia which earned him a snort from his leader. Thankfully their long journey was coming to a close (this time with no bandits interrupting them); they could see the tree line only a slight distance away from their current hill, within which sat the area simply known as Tea Party.

"Do you think we should have brought something?" Vlinn glanced over his shoulder. Sky's arched eyebrow prompted him to continue. "I mean, like crumpets or something…it _is_ a tea party we're going to…seems awfully rude to show up with nothing."

"We don't exactly have the time to go _gift shopping_ ," Sky spat. "If you want to get them something feel free to run back to town."

"I probably could," Vlinn mumbled, tapping his chin pensively. The guild leader sighed and continued their march, pulling Cronan and Vlinn along with her. The wood was dense from the start, trees cluttered around the path (which was only wide enough for one person mind you) and the branches wrapped around each other, choking out the sunlight that tried to drift in.

The path would twist and turn wildly at times, even circling the same tree four times before resuming along its way. The players did not dare stray from the path for fear of Bandersnatchs or Momeraths, either would be very unwelcome.

Occasionally the Cheshire cat would pop in, making his presence known with usually just his eyes or a smile. The Oath Keepers did their best to simply ignore the insane feline…programmer…thing. Honestly the whole situation made Cronan's head hurt and he was probably the more intelligent one in the guild, he could only imagine how Vlinn was mentally coping with the situation (truthfully Vlinn simply did _not_ think about it, sometimes the cat showed up, said some things and then left, what was there to think about?).

"Need directions?" The cat asked, he pointed in opposite directions with his hind legs.

"No." Sky stated and they followed the path. Had it not been for the lamp that Cronan possessed (Sky's Night Vision skill did that for her and Vlinn just never bothered) they more than likely would have been assaulted by some make-believe monster on their way. _Probably would have had sunflowers for teeth or something,_ Cronan mused, he cracked a smile at that; a monster with flowers for fangs, good one. The warrior's thoughts were interrupted by the glowing exit that created a doorway in the tree line.

"Oh thank the System," Vlinn mumbled and Cronan found he was in agreement, the past two days had consisted of a lot of travel and perhaps a tea party would be just what their guild needed. They entered the glade cautiously, hands resting on hilts, fortunately nothing leapt out to attack them. Above them the tree tops and branches had melded together to form a solid roof over the clearing. In the center of the clear area sat a small pink and white cottage and set up on what Cronan supposed was the front lawn was a very long picnic table.

Seated at which were three figures; A large tan furred rabbit was pawing through the stacks of tea cups that covered the table, muttering to itself. Every few minutes the rabbit would spew out an obscenity before returning to its jittery reorganizing.

Next to it was seated a very large mouse, almost Vlinn's size, Cronan could tell from the sharp intake of air from the red armored player. The mouse kept dozing off it seemed as its head would slowly droop to its chest before popping back up. The mouse would glance at his companions and then slowly his head would begin its descent again.

Finally, to the mouse's left was the man that their quest marker was currently floating above. The lanky fellow wore a large green top hat; a piece of paper that read 10/6 was tucked into the head band. His attire was fairly subdued compared to the other denizens of Wonderland, a simple pair of brown breaches and a brown waist-coat. In his hand he held a golden stopwatch, on which he was applying a generous layer of jam.

"I wonder if it's strawberry," Vlinn muttered, the party moved into the clearing, approaching the table cautiously.

"Good evening," Sky began tentatively.

"Is it?" The Hatter replied distractedly, the watch seemed to take a lot of focus.

"Ass!" The rabbit supplied.

"It is," Cronan said, trying to ignore the March Hare (as that was undoubtedly who it was). "Is a watch better served with butter?"

"Two days off," The man informed them matter-of-factly. "The watch is two days off."

"Of course it is," Vlinn remarked, rolling his eyes.

"Would it be alright if we joined you?" Sky asked, stepping in front of her guild mates

"Oh of course, of course!" The Hatter chuckled, tossing the watch over his shoulder. "How very civil of you to ask unlike that last girl that was here, oh but that was an eternity ago. We were just celebrating our friend's un-birthday." He gave the mouse a quick shake, jostling it into a more aware state. It squeaked out nonsense blearily before dozing back to sleep.

"A fine day to celebrate," Cronan grinned, playing along for the moment. He threw a wink at his two friends. Vlinn dropped into a seat and pulled a tea cup toward him, Sky followed his example after giving a careless shrug.

"Would you be willing to help us with something?" The Hatter inquired suddenly, he leaned over the table and Cronan found his gaze flitting between the Hatter himself and his overly sized bow tie which was in danger of becoming covered in the margarine.

"That was quick," Vlinn muttered from behind his tea cup. The Hatter turned his attention to the young swordsman and waggled both of his large bushy at brows at him. Vlinn recoiled, pushing his seat back several inches. Sky regained the man's attention with a slight cough.

"We would be happy to help," At this the Hatter smiled brightly.

"Oh goody!" He collapsed back into his seat looking quite pleased. "Very well, answer me this riddle; how is a raven like a writing desk?" The companions glanced at each other, silent questions passed between them. Finally when they had all shrugged, admitting their ignorance, Sky turned to the Hatter, already shaking her head.

"I do not know," This elicited a chuckle from the lanky man.

"Neither do we!" The man snorted and the schizophrenic rabbit let out a high pitched guffaw. "Isn't that fun?"

"Sure," Vlinn mumbled, already regretting the decision to play along with the wonderfully mad denizens of the Tea Party. Sky began to address the Hatter but was forced to wait for the Hare to finish his lengthy list of swears.

"Charming," She breathed. "Excuse me, Hatter; do you know where the Mockturtle is?"

"Now why would I mock a turtle?!" The well-dressed host exclaimed. "Unless of course he insulted my mother but then I would just enquire as to a friendly bout of fisticuffs." The Hatter leapt onto the table and gave his fists a few swings.

"You didn't even know your mother!" The Hare heckled, chucking a tea cup over his shoulder.

"That's right," Hatter collapsed back into his chair and wiped away a tear that had suddenly sprung to his eye. "I never knew my mother!"

"I hate this place so much," Vlinn pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping that would somehow alleviate his headache.

"I don't want you to _mock_ a turtle," Sky said exasperatedly. "I want to know where _the_ Mockturtle is!"

"Well why didn't you say so," The Hatter said matter-of-factly, stirring in a lump of salt into his coffee. "He's with the Duchess of course!"

"Duchess?" Cronan raised an eyebrow, which dropped swiftly into a glare as a chuckle (that was far too familiar at that point) rang through the clearing.

"Bitch!" Again from the Hare.

"I hate that cat too," Again from Vlinn.

"Switch places!" The Hatter declared, jumping up from his seat and moving to the next. The Hare and Dormouse followed suit and the Mad Hatter stared at the guild pointedly until they too moved along the table.

"So where is the Duchess?" Sky resumed, still trying to be the voice of reason within the world of madness.

"The who?" The lanky man took a sip of tea and promptly spewed it out. "Oh gracious no!" He grabbed a small plate of margarine and slid the whole of it into the cup.

"The Duchess," Sky began again. "Where. Is. She?" Vlinn could almost hear her teeth grinding together. Hatter waggled a finger at her and shook his head violently which, fascinatingly enough, made his hat hover above him briefly.

"A question for a question," The man, declared. "Or perhaps a poem?"

"Mm, twinkle twinkle…" The mouse snorted loudly and his head drooped back onto his chest.

"Tell them –Ass!- about the one with the sword!" The Hare shouted as he tossed a tea pot over his shoulder.

"Ah yes!" The Hatter crowed. "My personal favorite!"

"We really don't have time-" Sky found herself cut off as the Hatter ignored her and began his poem regardless.

" _Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!_

" _He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought - So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought. And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came!_

" _One, two! One, two! And through and through, the vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head. He went galumphing back. And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! He chortled in his joy_."

"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves. Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe." The cat's voice echoed through the glade, finishing the poem for the mad man drinking tea.

"Ominous," Cronan muttered.

"Now," Sky said, obviously barely holding her impatience and temper in check. "Can you tell us where the Duchess is so we can get the Mockturtle?"

"Why do you want a mocking turtle?" The Hatter asked, pouring himself another cup. "I wouldn't want an amphibian mocking me!"

"We need the _Mockturtle_ ," She began with a sigh. "Because we need to get into the Red Castle." The Hatter's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"The Queen," He hissed, gone was the playfulness in his voice and mannerisms.

"Um," Cronan rocked back on his heels. "Yes?"

"The woman that banished me here, that woman that took away my…took something _precious_." A flash of red pierced his eyes for only an instant, but Sky's targeting system just caught it.

"Whoa," Vlinn gently placed his teacup down, stood up and sidestepped to place himself behind Cronan.

"Yes," Sky began hesitantly. "We need to get into the castle so we can stop her."

"She sent me here, the Hare and I," The Hatter wasn't looking at the players anymore or really even addressing them. "Stuck here for eternity, never aging. Ha! All for crimes I never committed."

"Except _murder_." The Hare chuckled and the Hatter joined in.

"Ah, yes my ultimate crime, killing the time." He smiled at the guild's confused looks. "That is why I was banished here, trapped in eternity. I _needed_ more time…I just didn't have enough! So I murdered Time but of course the Queen would have none of that!" Sky's jaw dropped slightly and Cronan could make out her lips; ran out of time… He shot her a look but she simply shook her head and bit her lip.

"You murdered _Time_?" Vlinn asked his first intelligent question that evening.

"Who told you that!?" The Hatter cried, leaping to his feet "Do you work for the Queen?"

"Wow, that was a quick turn," Vlinn said as his hand dropped to the hilt of Enrapture. The Hatter's eyes darted to his hand and a feral snarl leapt to the man's lips.

"So you're here for my head then!" The Hatter whipped his hat off and just like a magician pulled a blue, basket-hilted rapier out of it. "Come then!"

He replaced his hat atop his head and then brought his blade into a skill position, aimed directly at Cronan. The well armored warrior snorted in disdain and held his arms to the side in a 'come at me' pose. He was only saved by a timely intervention by Sky.

The Hatter dashed forward at such an incredible speed that Cronan's targeting system could not register him for a moment. Sky was already moving when he was, katana drawn and with a single strong swing was able to press the blade to the side so it merely nicked Cronan's cheek.

Before the warrior could react Hatter had already dashed backwards. The March Hare simply watched the goings on while periodically taking small sips of tea; the Dormouse was of course unconscious.

"He's fast," Sky stated over her shoulder. "Vlinn?"

"At your service," The red armored player grinned, his blade in hand. Before his guild-mates could move he had already sprinted forward, rocketing toward the lanky man. Sparks sprang to life as the two weapons clashed and Vlinn was forced to dash away as the rapier darted in faster than Vlinn would have been able to parry.

"He also has high reflexes," Sky mused, watching as Vlinn would dash in for a single hit and then evacuate within the next second. "So we just need to stop his movement?" The swordswoman tapped her finger against her bottom lip pensively.

"Cronan?" The woman turned to her heavy armored friend, who grunted in reply. "Do I have any Paralyzation poison?" The warrior raised an eyebrow at her but opened his menu lazily all the same. After a few brief seconds (filled with the sound of steel on steel and swearing) the warrior nodded his head once before materializing the desired item. Sky took the bottle, popped it open and poured the yellow tinted liquid over her beloved katana.

"Vlinn," She called. There was no response at first, just the sound of steel and then…

"What!?"

"I need you to lure him into the corner of the cottage, outside, where it meets the tree line," She didn't stick around to see if had heard her, the swordswoman sprinted toward the afore mentioned cottage and with a leap and a tumble brought herself to the roof. Cronan watched her small acrobatic routine and then turned his attention to his other companion as Vlinn began to herd the Hatter toward their desired location.

With a sigh the warrior-smith meandered his way toward the Hare and Dormouse. As he dropped into the seat next to them the Hare, without looking away from the fight, handed the warrior a cup of tea. Cronan grunted his thanks and the Hare responded in kind.

On the other side of the clearing the Hatter was dashing backwards (Vlinn was keenly interested in that little feat) and before he knew it had slammed into the wall of the cottage. The minute his back touched the rough wood he realized he had been trapped and was already sprinting away when Sky's yellow glowing katana caught his upper arm, just barely.

The Hatter moved across the glade and the came back to slam against Sky, who turned his thinner blade aside easily. The poison had already begun its work. The Hatter sneered at her and sent another high speed (or so he thought) skill at the swordswoman, who once again pushed the blade aside. Before he could move away Sky's katana bit through his sword hand and the rapier clattered off of the cobblestone path on which they stood.

The Hatter chuckled as he stared at the stump where his hand used to be. Slowly the chuckle grew into a laugh and the laugh into a guffaw, beside Cronan the March Hare let out a giggle of his own.

"So that's how it is!?" Hatter screeched. "The Queen sends her assassins in to finish the job and I am done in so _easily_!"

"Tell us where the Mockturtle is!" Sky rested Yama's tip on Hatter's collarbone.

"I already told you, he is with the Duchess!"

"Tell me where that is!" The Hatter's only answer was a wild eyed grin.

"A question for a question," He reminded her, smiling all the while.

"Fine," Sky hissed.

"If you find a woman named Delilah, would you tell her that I am alright?"

"You want us to lie?" Vlinn snorted as he slammed his hanger sword back into its scabbard. The Hatter glared at him distastefully.

"If that is how you want to see it…give me your map. I will mark where the Duchess resides." The map updated with its familiar chime and before another word could be said Sky felt herself being dragged out of the glade.

"Let's go Cronan," Vlinn said over his shoulder, swordswoman in hand. "We're leaving," Cronan shrugged, threw back the rest of his tea and then followed his guild-mates. As they left the clearing they could hear someone sobbing, but Vlinn did not slow down.

"That thing about time…" Cronan muttered. "He said he was there for eternity. What did that mean?"

"Time stands still in that grove," Vlinn answered, not bothering to look back. Sky eyed him curiously.

"And how would you know that?"

"You heard him, he said himself that he murdered time," He shrugged. "And isn't that more or less what he meant?"

"So if time works differently there…" Cronan's thoughts trailed off as he opened up his menu, a couple finger swipes later and he swore furiously. "Three days!" Sky tilted her head in response, waiting for him to elaborate but Vlinn froze in place.

"We were in there for three days," Vlinn growled. "Damn it!" Behind him Cronan dismissed his menu with an angry wave of his hand.

"We need to get moving," The warrior-smith sighed, trying to regulate his breathing. "We've wasted so much time." They resumed their march and Sky brought her map to life.

"The Duchess' house is to the south," Sky said, eyes scanning the opaque diagram. "We have to pass the Town of Suits, its already pretty late so we'll get there and shack up for the rest of night." She watched as her companions tensed at the delay but marching through the night would do them no favors. Logic worked its way into her friend's brains and they slowly relaxed, accepting the inevitable. The Oath Keepers made their way into the dark night, tracking their progress by the soft glow of the town in the distance.


	32. Ace!

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Ace!_**

 ** _October 25_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 5:48 pm_**

Sky held in the impending sneeze that would no doubt give away their position. Cronan and Vlinn glared at the swordswoman intently from either side of her. She leered back, it was not her fault! Sometimes grass got in or around her nose while they were in their prone position. She was mid-sneeze (head held back, eyes half closed) when the sound of hooves thundering down the large path tens of feet in front of them grabbed her partners' attention.

"Hold it in!" Cronan hissed. Sky grimaced at him bleary eyed and covered her face in her hands. As the horses (and more importantly their riders) approached the sound made by the beasts' hard feet became louder and slower. The small party of four riders stopped their steeds several feet from where the guild had planned on launching their ambush, _damn it_!

The four NPC's rode in a diamond formation with their target as the lead point. The Knave of Hearts stopped his steed and held up a closed fist to signal to his guard to follow his example. The Knave wore red plate-armor and both the armor and his shield were adorned in black hearts. His long-sword hung from a scabbard attached to his saddle, the hilt was shined black leather and the guard curled up and back in on itself to form a silver heart. The pommel of his weapon was (of course you guessed it) a heart.

Cronan rolled his eyes and held back a scoff, that sword was _atrocious_. The warrior heard a sharp intake of breath beside him and as his head whipped around Sky let out a high pitched sneeze.

"Damn it Sky!" Cronan roared as he leapt up, he grabbed the hilt of Crystalyst and wrenched it free of the simple leather loop that held it in place on his back. One of the Knave's guards had wheeled its steed around and was bearing down on the guild. The guard wore a suit of armor similar in design to the Knaves (hearts included) it simply lacked the red finish.

Cronan brought his weapon into position, looking very much like a batter preparing for the pitch. As the soldier neared, Cronan let loose a war cry and released the yellow glowing skill, his greatsword cleaved through the horses neck and caught the soldier in its stomach, sending him flying backwards several meters. The horse exploded into polygons and Cronan grimaced and tried to ignore the seething glare that Vlinn was sending his way.

The warrior-smith made his way toward another soldier who, of course, charged at him, lance levelled at Cronan's face. Cronan dropped Crystalyst and sent the lance spinning out of the enemy's grip with an arcing kick, as soon as his leg finished its yellow glowing semi-circle he planted it on the ground snapped his opposite leg up hitting the soldier heavily just as it was approaching. The soldier of heart was ejected from his seat and landed on the dusty path in a crumpled, heavy heap.

Cronan watched as a red line appeared across the fallen NPC's throat. Vlinn didn't stop as his sword skill ended, simply brought it into position for another move as he approached the other downed warrior. Sky in the meantime had pounced on the Knave, knocking him from his perch and was currently engaged in some rather impressive swordplay. The swordswoman utilized as many multi-hit sword skills as she had, her katana carved a rainbow of lines in the air as she probed the Knaves defenses and she was forced to admit, the NPC was pretty good.

The Knave, with difficulty, turned aside the woman's strokes with deft flicks of his sword and when that didn't work he relied on the tested, tried and true shield user methodology; hide behind the heavy metal object and hope you didn't lose a limb. And for the most part it was working; the deadly katana had yet to drop the Knave's health into the red although the indirect damage was dropping the bar pretty fast.

Not fast enough for Sky though.

The swordswoman growled as she launched another skill and as soon as that one ended she surged fluidly into another one. The woman was a whirlwind of colored lines, striking the heart shaped shield constantly, the Knave no longer had the opportunity to attempt to use his sword. Finally the shield shattered and the Knave was carved into several large pieces.

 _I am so glad I made that sword durable_ , the warrior-smith grimaced inwardly and approached the heavy breathing, wild eyed woman. After a few calming breaths she gave her blade a few spins and slipped it into her scabbard. The loot screen that was hanging just on her peripherals moved to hover in front of Sky as soon as her blade was away. Sitting in the inventory section was the Summoning Horn and The Jack of Hearts.

"I'm surprised it doesn't have heart somewhere in the name," She snorted disdainfully and dismissed the floating screen; she would worry about the other item later. Clip-clopping brought the duos attention to their red-armored guild-mate who had the last soldier's steed in tow.

"When did you get the last one?" Cronan grunted, eyeing the short beast behind Vlinn.

"Couple minutes ago, I would have been back sooner but I needed to catch this thing." The player jerked his head at the mount which nickered in reply.

"Why…" Cronan stared, deadpan, at Vlinn.

"Well," He began in a tone that implied he was speaking to a child. "They aren't as fast as me or Sky but they can go longer than us and I figure it sucks that we're almost always tired from traveling." He passed the pony's reins to Sky who immediately stepped close to her new steed. She ran her hands over its neck and cooed softly. "If we can go longer at a faster rate it might make up for the time we lost in the Tea Party."

Cronan snorted, unconvinced as he continued to size up Sky's pony. The majority of floors had stables that players could rent a horse from, however that required a list of separate skills that would have to be learned and those skills just weren't practical to use. They also cost an obscene amount of Col just to _rent_. Of course there was also the fact that real life skill translated into the players' ability to ride the beasts and a lot of the gamers were from urban Japan, so not a lot of them had too much experience with the mounts. Overall it was just better for the players to simply walk wherever they had to go.

However Wonderland was larger than most of the floors and they were running short on time. Cronan was forced to, begrudgingly, agree with Vlinn. He shrugged at Vlinn and gestured at the remaining two horses, with a smile and a wink the player trotted over to the mounts. By the time Cronan had seated himself in the saddle Sky was already mounted and Vlinn was in the process of hoisting himself up.

Cronan sat atop the Knave's old mount as it was the largest and thus the best suited to carry Cronan's armor-laden body. By that same logic Sky took the pony and Vlinn's mount measured happily between the two.

"Does anybody even know how to work these things?" The warrior-smith asked, holding the reins uncomfortably.

"Can't be that hard, you just keep your heels down and your ass in the saddle." Vlinn grinned at his friend and collected his own reins.

"Heels down?"

"I don't know, I heard it in Gladiator." Before Cronan could protest their guild-leader clicked her tongue at her mount, sending it into an active trot. Vlinn sent his friend a wink and did the same.

"I don't like you," Cronan mumbled at his steed. The large black horse turned its head around to stare at the warrior as if to say: _The feeling's mutual._ "I hate the AI in this game." The player grumbled as he gave the horse a slight kick, urging it after his friends.

Vlinn had been right; travel was swift as their mounts moved into a kilometer eating canter. The riding was not overly difficult for the guild as they simply kept to the pre-made path that the horses had already been traveling down. Sky took the middle of the wide path with her guild-mates riding along either side of her, the swordswoman held the reins loosely in one hand while the other worked at the floating screen in front of her.

"She's going to ride that thing off a cliff," Cronan remarked, if he was expecting a response he was disappointed. He glanced to his left to find Vlinn staring straight ahead; he couldn't be heard over the sound of thundering hooves. "Perhaps that is for the best." The warrior sighed and glanced around taking in the swiftly passing scenery. The path carved its way through the enormous expanse of grassland; it circumvented the hills and provided bridges where it encountered streams.

The path had only one destination; The Red Castle and Sky had made the decision that they were going to approach it and use the horn that she had acquired from the Knave.

"Why?" Vlinn had asked during a brief rest. "It's not like we can do anything, we don't have the passphrase."

"I'd still like to at least see the creature, maybe if we can defeat it, it will take us into the castle and we can get back some of the time we lost in the Tea Party." Vlinn had glared at their guild-leader but did not pursue the subject farther.

And so they approached the impressive fortress that sat on its own private isle. The 'moat' was not so much a moat as it was a lake. The setting sun cast red light across the unnaturally quiet waters.

The castle itself was large, comparable to the Black Iron Palace, it was designed in the common fashion of castles; four towers made up the four corners of its outer wall and then the main keep sat inside and soared high above the thick stone outer walls. A lone figure could be seen flying circles around the top most spire of the keep.

The path to the Red Castle ended under an impressive looking stone arch that was about as tall and as wide as their maisonette back on the forty ninth floor. The guild brought their mounts to a halt beneath this mysterious gateway and Sky summoned the horn they had acquired from the Knave She placed the object to her lips and blew.

The trumpeting sound echoed across the still waters of the lake and the world around them became noticeably quiet. Sky was the first to notice the flying figure approaching them, the horses were the second.

The beasts panicked, snorting and screaming as the figure came closer and closer, growing ever larger in size. Finally the mounts started bucking and leaping into the air until all of the Oath Keepers were lying on the ground.

"Well there goes that idea," Vlinn groaned, sitting up and watching the horses race away.

"I hate to say I told you so," Cronan said from his prone position. Vlinn answered him with a classic one-fingered salute.

"Get ready," Sky snapped, authority laced her voice; Yama was already in her hand. The boys only had a few brief seconds before the Gryphon landed in front of them heavily. Grass and dirt were thrown into the air as the creature hit the ground. The beast stood as tall as any of the dragons that Cronan had hunted, with a wing span to match. The talons of its front legs flexed as the creature studied the players before it.

Its eagle eyes ran over them, taking in their arms and armor. The huge wings folded gently against the body that belonged to a massive lion, swishing tail and all.

" **WHAT SAY YE**?" A deep, booming voice emanated from the Gryphon's beak, seemingly causing the ground to shake. Vlinn and Cronan had just been picking themselves up and were thrown to the ground again. Sky, the most nimble of the three, managed to hold her balance; the beast brought its head closer to her waiting for her reply. She answered with a skill called Hiogi, a sword skill unique to katanas. The skill consisted of three hits- an upward swing into a downward sing and then ending with a powerful thrust.

Sky executed the skill flawlessly, which was unsurprising considering she used it quite frequently. She pulled her blade out of the Gryphon's face and leapt backward, somersaulting mid-air. As she landed the guild-leader focused on the air just above and to the side of the creatures head, waiting for its health bar to pop into existence.

When it did Sky felt the heavy weight of dread settle into her stomach. Her skills had hit perfectly and they had hit an exposed and critical area of the Gryphon's body. The healthbar appeared as if it had not budged from the maximum percent line. If she squinted hard enough she could fool herself into seeing the barest of spaces that the bar had moved.

"We need to go!" She called back to her guild-mates who were, once again, picking themselves up. The Gryphon let out a bone chilling shriek as it pounded its huge wings against the air, whipping up a fierce burst of wind. The Oath Keepers were tossed several hundred feet away, landing painfully on a small hill.

"It might be less painful if we just don't get up," Cronan gasped. The Gryphon let out another cry as it took to the air, beating its wings heavily. It began to circle the players, getting lower ever cycle.

"Move, move!" Sky cried, she slammed Yama back into its scabbard and charged down the hill with her friends in tow. Cronan manipulated his menu as he ran, fingers dancing wildly across the opaque interface. In a flash of light his heavy armor disappeared, leaving him in his simple tunic and pants.

Sky led their wild charge toward the closest part of the forest. The Gryphon dove at them once, swiping his razor like talons at them, the creature watched them flee into the forest and glided in a circle once before pumping it's powerful wings, propelling it toward the castle.

The Oath Keepers watched the beast depart from the safety of the tree line. Cronan wasted no time in re-equipping his gear; System only knew what was in the forest.

"That was a mistake," Sky breathed, she leaned against a thick tree, her knees felt like they were going to give out.

"What was your first clue?" Vlinn replied, unlike her Vlinn had given in to his shaky knees. He rested his back against the same tree, making sure to take slow breaths.

"That thing was strong," Sky said, more to herself than her companions. "If the gate keeper to the castle is that powerful I wonder how strong the Queen is."

"Oh, you won't need to worry about that," The Cheshire cat said. He slowly became visible (which looked extraordinarily like paint being poured) on top of Vlinn's head. "You see, the Gryphon is one of the floor's optional bosses, you don't have to fight it if you have the passphrase." The cat disappeared just as Vlinn swiped his hand at it only for it to reappear on one of the branches of the tree.

"Looks like we won't be taking any short cuts," Sky sighed.

"It's probably best if we don't hang around then," Cronan said as he adjusted his armor. Sky nodded and Vlinn took the hint and climbed to his feet. The swordswoman opened her menu and brought the map data for Wonderland up and gestured for her companions to gather behind her. The map had the Duchess' location marked by a bright red circle which still lay to the east of them, deep into Tulgey Woods.

The guild-leader kept the map open and they proceeded through the forest at a painfully slow, but constant, rate. As always the small pathways inside the forest wound their way in circles and triangles and parallelograms.

"The hell even is a parallelogram," Vlinn griped, his hand stayed close to Enrapture.

"It's a shape," Replied the Cat as he floated in circles around the party. He had, to his own amusement, acquired a stick and was using it as a makeshift oar to "row" himself through the air. "It has two pairs of parallel sides."

"I really wasn't asking you," The red armored player hissed. It might have been his imagination but he could almost feel contempt radiating from his Hanger sword.

"To be fair," Cronan said, lantern in hand. "You kind of left that question out for anyone to answer."

"Could you _please_ , just _one time_ , have my back on something?"

"Boys!" Sky snapped, she glanced over her shoulder and sent a sharp glare at them. "A little quieter if you please." The Cheshire cat, who had just inhaled deeply, let his pent up breath out in a huff of disappointment.

"I suppose I'll just practice this later," He said, tossing a trumpet over his shoulder. "Although at this rate I am never going to be ready for this week's concert."

"Why are you still here!?" Vlinn snapped, earning himself another glare from Sky. The cat simply smiled and backstroked through the air. The sun was beginning to dim and cast it's red light through the opening. The party continued their journey until the forest was cast in darkness that Cronan's lantern could not penetrate.

"Let's set up camp then," Sky hissed in displeasure. Her mood was infectious and her party members found themselves sinking into a rather cold silence for the rest of the evening. Sky threw hard tack at them for dinner which did nothing to improve morale. And then there was the cat who had taken it upon himself to improve their attitudes, which of course had the opposite desired effect.

"Did I ever tell you the story of the little oysters?"

"Heard it," Sky snapped.

"Oh? Well what about a poem, it's called 'You are'-"

"No," Cronan said, he ran a sharpening stone down Crystalyst's edge, sending sparks showering off the sides with every pass.

"Hmm, well how about-"

"Seriously, why are you still here?!"

The party was up and moving early the next morning, intent on making up for lost time. They found that the forest was much easier to navigate without the dying light casting odd shadows and making things seem far more ominous than they actually were.

It was around midday that they came across a clearing just about where the indicator on the map marked the Duchess' location. There sat what one might describe as a palace, just on a much smaller scale. The palace sat at the back edge of the clearing, it resembled the Queen of Hearts castle only scaled to the size of a small two-story house.

Now that they saw their destination the general mood of the party should have been rising by the second. However there was one very important aspect of the clearing that gave the guild cause to pause.

Before them stood ten Card Soldiers in three horizontal lines of three, the soldiers looked nothing like cards, more like elegant suits of armor. Emblazoned on their shoulders was the clubs symbol and below that was a number one through ten. Behind the three lines stood another soldier who towered over the rest, he bore heavy plate armor and a large metal, studded club sat easily on his shoulder. His left pauldron bore the clubs symbol and underneath it sat "A".

"Form forward lines!" The huge soldier barked and the others marched precisely into two long lines. "Present arms! Forward!" As one the two lines moved, all bearing varying blunt weapons.

"I'll give you a tip," The cat said to the guild as he disappeared. "If you take out the Ace the rest will scramble."

"Finally he decides to make himself useful," Vlinn said, he held Enrapture behind his back and leaned his body forward. The blade glowed a vibrant green and the player took off like a shot. The skill was crafted exactly for situation like this; Homing Edge used the targeting system to determine the actual target and then took in the enemies that lay between the player and his/her target. The skill took longer to activate than any of the others but that was because the System was calculating the route that the skill would take, upon release the player would dash forward in a zig-zag pattern, evading the collateral monsters and reaching the intended target to deliver a single powerful slash.

"Wait, Vlinn!" Sky cried too late. Cussing she took off after him, nimbly dodging the heavy weapons. Cronan swung his huge two-handed sword off of his back, planted it tip first into the ground and sucked in air. Before the Card Soldiers could chase after his guild-mates Cronan unleashed a roar of challenge.

Nine heads instantly turned to face him, the skill Howl was invaluable to heavy armored tank players like him as it attracted the attention of all enemies (with exception to sentient-humanoid- sub-bosses) which gave his companions some breathing room.

Cronan took a wide stance and twisted his torso around, his large blade came to rest just above and to the side of his shoulder. As the soldiers approached a red glow emitted from Crystalyst and the warrior let his enemies come. Even as the first soldiers reached him the warrior-smith did not release the skill until all of the soldiers had engaged him.

His health was just dipping into the yellow when he finally unleashed Cyclone; Crystalyst carved a red circle as the warrior spun three hundred and sixty degrees, smashing his blade into the soldiers. The majority of the enemies were thrown back, several stumbled and only two were able to withstand the blow. Soldiers nine and ten, Cronan noted with amusement. _So their number designates their strength?_

Before he could test his theory the warrior-smith caught a glimpse of the battle against the Ace and it was not going well.

Vlinn's entire plan had consisted of getting past the soldiers and hitting the Ace hard and fast. He figured once he got past the soldiers he could see the weak points in the Ace's armor and he would adjust his blade accordingly. Unfortunately the heavy plated armor that the enemy bore left no openings for him to exploit and it was far too late to end the skill. So Enrapture bounced helplessly off of the Ace of Clubs.

The sudden force of the knock back was enough to send Vlinn stumbling back. The Ace swung his enormous club, intent on caving in Vlinn's ribcage. Still rocked back on his heels the red armored player could only let himself fall onto his back to avoid the blunt weapon.

The club soared over him by an inch and then his back hit the ground and the air was forced out of the player's lungs, leaving him momentarily stunned. That moment was enough for the giant soldier as he brought his club up with surprising speed. The club descended swiftly, on course for Vlinn's head.

Sky had managed to get through the lines of enemies with the help of her agile movements and, in no small part, desperation. She somersaulted, spun, flipped and twisted to avoid the majority of weapons, thankfully they were not bladed or she would not have made it out of that encounter as well as she did.

She had heard her friends shout as soon as she was clear of the lines and she blew out a sigh of relief, at least she wouldn't have to deal with the soldiers. She sprinted as fast as she could when she saw Vlinn fall, Yama was already in her hand and she placed it across her left hip as if she was going to draw.

Her hand hovered over the back of the blade and she ran as fast as she could without making the blade move. Activating sword skills while moving was possible, just difficult in that the weapon had to be in the correct position and that was sometimes hard to maintain with the wielder moving.

Thankfully her sword flashed green just as she was approaching the Ace and faster than lightning her sword swung upward. Sky realized her mistake before the weapons even connected; as heavy and durable as Yamashitaryuu was (thank you very much Cronan) it was nowhere near as heavy as the giant club and with the speed it was descending at, the force was far too much for the swordswoman to stop. Had she targeted the weapon with a multi-strike sword skill she might have been able to slow the momentum of the club enough to stop it.

With her sword already descending along with the club Sky could only hope that her strength stat would be enough to stop it…she held no illusions of victory. The swordswoman spun around so the back of her sword was supported by her shoulder, which was also a mistake.

The force of the club drove Sky down to her knees and it was only thanks to the special material that Yama had been crafted with, that the blade did not shatter. So the leader of the Oath Keepers was crouched over her stunned guild-mate being slowly pushed further and further into the ground.

 _Any closer and this might get awkward,_ the swordswoman thought and the grimace on Vlinn's face hinted that he might have been having similar thoughts. Thankfully the weight of the club was suddenly lifted from the swordswoman's shoulders. Their heavily armored comrade easily smashed the club aside with his blade and before the Ace could counter he dropped his weapon and launched several iron-like fists into the soldier's armored gut.

"I'll take him," Cronan said, pushing his opponent away with a yellow glowing kick. "Distract the soldiers; I think their number defines how strong they are." Vlinn, finally back in control of his breathing and motor functions rolled to his feet and darted toward the nearest Card Soldier.

"You're on your own for a minute!" Sky called after him and then dashed away from Cronan and the ace. At a safer distance Sky opened up her katana's status window and cringed visibly, that little contest of strength had dropped Yama's durability dangerously close to zero. Sky carefully slid the blade into it's scabbard and then drew as many of her throwing knives as she could hold, she would have to support Vlinn from afar.

Meanwhile the two heavily armored fighters squared off, sizing each other up. Cronan had retrieved Crystalyst and now rolled his shoulders, loosening them up for the fight. The Ace moved first, bringing his club across horizontally, Cronan matched with a diagonally slashing sword skill and the two weapons bounced off of each other. Cronan's arms felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets and yet he managed to keep his grip on the sword's hilt.

Cronan brought his blade back, holding it with two hands above his head, intending to smash his opponent with an Avalanche sword skill. But before his weapon could charge the skill the Ace was already swinging his club again, this time smashing it into Cronan's side. The heavy hit sent the warrior-smith staggering and the glow that was just beginning to shine from Crystalyst dispersed.

Cronan drove the sword into the ground, reached into his belt pouch, retrieved a potion and chugged it. As the Ace advanced Cronan tossed the empty bottle over his shoulder and started to meet his opponent. The Ace brought his arm up, intending to swing his weapon down and literally smash Cronan into the ground.

Of course the warrior had other plans in mind, before the Ace could bring his club down Cronan sent a flurry of punches into the enemy's arm. Essentially stopping the skill before it could even activate, before the Ace could react a green glowing fist smashed into his chin, snapping his head back. The uppercut left the Ace stunned long enough for Cronan to move into his next skill position.

He crouched down with his dominant leg slightly behind him, slowly his boot shone a deep green and finally Cronan released the skill Gengetsu. His boot left a green arc in the air as Cronan back flipped, planting his boot under the Ace's chin, snapping his head back yet again. Cronan landed next to his blade and he yanked it from the ground and advanced on his opponent again, smashing Crystalyst into the Ace's ribs.

Slowly, but steadily the Ace of Clubs' health dropped and finally Cronan was able to end him with a basic thrusting sword skill, Crystalyst drove through the battered and weakened plate armor, ending up somewhere in the enemy's guts.

The Ace shattered into thousands of pieces, leaving behind nothing but Col and experience. Cronan turned to find the Card Soldiers fleeing the clearing, just as the Cheshire cat suggested.

"He turned out to be useful after all," Vlinn grunted, shoving his sword back into its scabbard, Sky replaced whatever knives she had and approached the two of them.

"We still have to deal with whatever is in there," Sky reminded them, gesturing at the miniature palace. "Ready?"


	33. A Dash of Pepper

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _A Dash of Pepper_**

 ** _October 26_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 2:09 pm_**

The doorway was an accurate depiction of a drawbridge, chains and all. Of course there was no moat so it was useless in that aspect but Vlinn had to admit, it made a pretty cool door. A chain hung from a large cast-iron bell that was attached to the house.

"Do we ring the doorbell?" Cronan asked as he moved closer to inspect it. Sky stepped up next to him and ran her hands up and down the wooden planking of the drawbridge.

"I'd rather not," She sighed. "But there isn't a door handle and I can't see any way to get in otherwise." She was lying, Vlinn noticed. One of them could give her a boost and then once inside she could probably make her way to the mechanism that controlled the door…bridge.

He didn't blame her for wanting to stay together though, this floor was awful on your mind and the enemies were tough, stronger than any of the floors they had been on. Or perhaps he was being a little cynical but he could not blame himself for that, Wonderland brought out the worst in people.

Vlinn was ripped from his contemplations by the deep gong-like sound produced when Cronan pulled on the chain.

"That is _not_ what a bell sounds like." Cronan said, or shouted as he was clapping his hands over his ears. The echoes of the DONG soon died away with nothing new occurring, Sky kicked the door in huff.

"Ugh, now we're probably going to have to go on a fetch quest to _fucking Narnia_ and battle the _god damned Lich King_ for some _shitty Skeleton Key_!" The guild-leader aimed another kick at the drawbridge just as a green head poked over the edge of the miniature battlements.

"Please do not kick the door- _ribbit_ ," The head said. "I will be down momentarily- _ribbit_." And with that he was gone, leaving the guild alone again. Well, alone not counting the Cheshire cat who was sitting very cat-like on the ground in front of the door.

"Was that-"

"Yes!" Cronan cried. "It was a frog, a very smartly dressed frog, that is _not_ a surprising sight anymore!" Vlinn blinked in surprise before taking a step back.

"Just checking," He mumbled meekly. Thankfully for the shorter warrior, the frog servant chose that moment to drop the drawbridge right on top of the cat. And for a brief moment Vlinn was happy again, until the cat re-appeared on top of the now lowered door. "We are never getting rid of that thing." Vlinn muttered to himself.

"Ah, master cat- _ribbit_ ," The frog took a moment to bow and gesture the Cheshire cat in. "The Duchess has been ever so worried over you." The cat walked into the castle, on all fours in, again, a very cat-like manner, dismissive ego and all. Then the servant turned to the guild, looking at them expectantly. "And what- _ribbit_ -may I help you with?"

"We are here to see the Duchess," Sky replied, not looking at the NPC but at the interior of the castle.

"Right this way then," The servant again bowed and gestured. The frog led them through the stone corridors, Vlinn and Cronan followed along quite passively. Sky, on the other hand, was restless, her eyes darting to and fro, soaking in every detail and every turn they made was just another memory to commit to.

If this was indeed a replica of the Queen's castle then knowing where what was would be invaluable. It was times like this that she wished she had invested in the Map Making skill. When players mapped a dungeon the system did it automatically, so any player could make map data for the more important places. However if a player wanted to map out something as insignificant as this place (attached to a quest or not) then they would need to invest points into the skill.

She had considered it a few times but her skill slots were far too limited and valuable to waste on something as trivial as that. So instead she would memorize everything she could about this place, each turn, each torch, each damned stone if need be.

The servant led through a series of inter-connecting corridors before finally stopping outside of a very average looking wooden door. He pushed it open and the stepped to the side and bowed.

The room turned out to be a kitchen with several large stone ovens and a fireplace that could easily fit all three guild members if they were to stand side by side. In this fireplace hung a large black cauldron and was being attended to by a rather wide woman. A small pig sat in one corner of the room, upon closer inspection Vlinn found that the pig was wearing footy pajamas and had a distinct human like face to it. The frog approached and cleared his throat.

"My lady," He began nervously. "You have guests."

"Guests?" The woman's voice reminded Vlinn distinctly of metal screeching across metal. The Duchess dropped the ladle she was using to stir the contents of the cauldron and turned to face them.

Her features were quite small. Her ears, eyes, mouth and nose seemed to be shrunken versions of what should have adorned the woman's wide head and face. Vlinn clapped his hands over his face to keep from sniggering. Sky shot him a glare only to turn that glare on Cronan when the warrior-smith let out a whistle.

"Damn," He whispered out the side of his mouth, this elicited a muted snort from Vlinn. Sky rolled her eyes in exasperation and turned to face the Duchess.

"Please excuse us my lady," She bowed shallowly before continuing. "We are looking for a certain someone and we were told that he might be here." The Duchess considered the short player before and Sky, to her credit, managed to stay straight-faced.

"And why would you believe that whomever you are searching for would be in my care?" The pig looked as if it were going to speak (or oink) until the Duchess shot it a glare and pointed her index finger at it before looking back at Sky. The creature just hung its head.

"Our source is quite reliable," Sky replied, coolly returning the Duchess snobbish glare. Damn the AI in this game was good.

"Hardly reliable," The Duchess harrumphed. "For I have no visitors aside from you three _uninvited_ guests, although there is the girl…" The party exchanged glances of curiosity, did they know if the Mockturtle was a girl or not? Nobody had said anything to the contrary, although by that same logic they had not affirmed whether the creature was of either genders or _a_ gender at all.

"Could this girl be the one we're looking for?" Cronan asked, glancing at either of his companions.

"I should think not," The Duchess huffed, making her way to the door way. She poked her head out and screamed "Get in here girl!" and then waddled back to her cauldron.

"I guess we'll find out," Vlinn shrugged and leaned back against the stone wall. They weren't kept waiting long, a thin girl in a dirty, modest maid uniform quickly strode into the room.

"What is it my-" The girl froze upon seeing the assembled players. Her eyes widened as her face quickly took on a distinctive red coloration. Her blonde hair was pulled back into two short pig-tails and she was much cleaner than before and less of a danger without her rapier but without a doubt the maid turned bandit, Mary-Anne stood before them.

"Well, shit," Vlinn chuckled. "So this is where she ended up."

"So we were supposed to get attacked by her then?" Cronan scratched his chin as he examined the NPC. "That's a rather nice touch."

"Why thank you," The Cheshire cat smiled from his seat on the table. Cronan shook his head, choosing to ignore the feline.

"I am sorry my lady," Sky said, shaking her head. "But this is not who we were looking for. Are you sure there is no one else that has visited your castle? Or perhaps you hired?" With a growl the Duchess dropped her ladle and spun around to face the guild.

"If someone had come to my castle I would know about it! Now if you'll excuse me I have dinner to make and if my son does not get his dinner on time he tends to get cranky, good day!" Sky, being physically the closest, cringed when spit began to fly, her comrades started in surprise behind her. Mary-Anne flinched and stepped away from her new employer, when the pig began to cry (yes, cry) she hurried over and lifted it in her arms with noticeable effort.

"Shh, it's alright little master," She cooed, the Duchess rolled her eyes.

"Put the boy down, it's good for him to be left alone when it cries and if he sneezes again do give him a good smack!"

"Solid parenting," Vlinn commented, voice oozing sarcasm. "I'm sure he'll grow into a nice…boar?" At this the Duchess brandished her ladle at him, eyes narrowed.

"I think that's her actual baby," Cronan muttered to Vlinn. The warrior blinked and then glanced between the baby and its apparent mother.

"How unfortunate," He muttered back. The Duchess huffed and turned back to her cauldron, occasionally stirring.

"Where is that blasted cook," She mumbled. "I need more pepper." A chiming sounded and a golden exclamation appeared over the Duchess' head. A grin slowly spread over Sky's face, she approached the Duchess once again.

"Do you need assistance?"

"What?" The wider woman paused and turned to face her. She examined the guild-leader for a moment before nodding to herself. "Yes, very well then, I would like you to go fetch some pepper from the storage room and if the cook is there bring her along as well."

Sky nodded her head and strode out the door muttering "Fetch quest" under her breath, her guild-mates followed closely behind. Vlinn glanced back briefly, Mary-Anne was rocking the baby gently and the Duchess was once again stirring her concoction but from this vantage point Vlinn could swear that he saw a head rise from the cauldron. But before he could confirm it the Duchess was pushing whatever it was back into the liquid.

 _Strange,_ the warrior thought to himself as he hurried to catch up with his guild. The quest marker led them through the overlapping corridors in a series of turns that left Vlinn's head aching. The castle was a lot bigger on the inside than it first appeared due to the several underground floors. As the Oath Keepers descended into the bowels of the replica castle they found that the torches were being placed farther apart, leaving large portions of the cold, stone corridors plunged in darkness.

Cronan was quick to remedy the situation with his glow-stone lamp; however the sphere of light around them only served to make the shadows outside of it even more sinister. Sky urged the party on, eager to be out of the dark and so they continued following the mark on the map.

Finally they found the storage room, or larder as the frog butler had called it when questioned. The large room was filled with a variety of boxes and barrels, one of the barrels was opened and a frail looking older woman was sifting through the contents.

"Excuse me?" Sky said, the woman jumped and after finding the source of her distress glared at the guild.

"What do you want!?" She snapped resuming her search into the barrel.

"The Duchess sent us to get you," Cronan answered, stepping forward so he was next to Sky. "She needs pepper." The old lady paused and glanced up at the guild thoughtfully.

"Well I'm busy right now," She finally said. "But you can take this cup of pepper to her and let her know I will be right up." A bell chimed and an indicator flared to life at each of the guild-members peripherals.

"Thank you very much," Cronan replied and the guild left the room, entering the dark corridors once again. The return trip was much the same as their short tryst down; dark and dank. The air was cold enough that their breath was visible in the dull gold of Cronan's lamp.

"This is ridiculous," Sky growled as they back tracked from a wrong turn, the corridor they had accidently taken had brought them into the dungeons but there was nothing of value to be gained.

"Took you this long to realize that?" Vlinn replied with a small smirk, he leaned back against the cool wall and tapped his fingers along his scale-armored arms.

"She isn't going to tell us where the turtle is," Sky continued. "He- _It_ has to be here, this is where the quest marker brought us."

"Well you never actually asked for the Mockturtle specifically," Cronan set the lamp down and then dropped to the floor and rested his back against the wall. "If you say his name specifically it might trigger the next bit of script for her." Sky chewed at the end of her nail as her mind raced with possible scenarios.

"I don't think she'll tell us regardless," Vlinn said, he thought back to the point just before he had left, more specifically at what the Duchess had pushed back into the cauldron. "I think I may know where the turtle is."

"We've brought your pepper," Sky said as the Oath Keepers entered the kitchen once again. "Your cook said she would be up shortly."

"Good, good" The Duchess replied. She held out her hand expectantly without turning from the cauldron. Sky materialized the desired item and placed it in the woman's sweaty palms. She added a dash of it to the mystery liquid and was rewarded with a very faint sneeze. Cronan's head jerked toward the cauldron and his eyes narrowed.

Before he could alert his guild-mates the Duchess kept adding pepper until the room was filled with a dark cloud of the substance causing Cronan to sneeze heavily, the pig-baby also sneezed, drawing its mother's attention.

"What have I said about that?" She snapped and brandished her ladle as she approached the baby. Sky took advantage of her absence and sprinted to the cauldron, she stood on her tiptoes to try and get a better view.

"Help me," A voice rasped from within the cauldron. Sky watched with wide eyes as a head rose weakly from the liquid. Yama was free of its scabbard instantly, the weapon flashed from side to side, severing the chains and sending the container tumbling to the ground, spilling its contents.

The Mockturtle lay very weakly on its back, gasping for air. Sky helped it gently move into a sitting position. The Duchess cursed and whirled around to face them, her baby's punishment forgotten.

"That is my dinner!" She moved toward them, waving her ladle about and Cronan moved to intercept. Behind the Duchess the baby squealed and wiggled in attempt to be free of Mary-Anne's grip.

"No little master," The maid grunted. The baby only squealed louder and thrashed about more violently. Vlinn found his gaze torn away from the battle between Cronan and the Duchess as Mary-Anne screamed. The baby was growing and dark brown hair was emerging from his skin at an alarming rate. Tusks sprouted from his mouth and his nose elongated and changed shape.

Mary-Anne scrambled back until she hit the wall, eyes wide in terror. The were-boar let out a triumphant bellow as he completely transformed. The creature stood on two cloven hooves and walked upright, its powerful arms bulged with veins and muscle and its sharp tusks glinted in the candlelight.

It swung around to glare two crimson points at Mary-Anne, who squeaked and pressed herself against the stone wall even harder.

"The hell is that?" Cronan demanded. Sky leapt forward to turn aside the Duchess' attack as he backpedaled. Vlinn moved into an attack position and as soon as light colored his blade he took off, racing across the kitchen and scoring a hit across the creature's side.

The were-boar screeched in pain and spun about, leaving the maid forgotten.

"That's right," Vlinn muttered to himself. "Keep your eyes over here ugly." The warrior dashed toward the beast's side, intent on scarring the creature again; however the boar had other plans in mind as it swung at the warrior with surprising speed.

Across the kitchen Sky defended herself from the Duchess' brutal onslaught. The ladle of hers was a potent weapon in the Duchess' hands and Sky was quick to find that the woman had unexpected strength. The Duchess, gripping her weapon with two hands, swung horizontally at the swordswoman, the ladle shone a brilliant crimson color as it slammed into Sky's katana, the swordswoman grimaced as cracks started to form along the blade, that was the only reaction she had time for.

The guild-leader was sent flying into the nearby wall; she crumpled to the ground and lay there, stunned. Cronan attacked before the Duchess could advance on his fallen comrade, greatsword met ladle in a flash of color and Cronan was surprised to find that the woman was able to withstand his massive strength.

Of course it made sense now that he thought about it; the soldiers that had been protecting her had been of the clubs suit. They wielded blunt weapons, the ladle, and had greater strength than the heart soldiers had possessed. Cronan grinned and swung his weapon with noticeable vigor and again the ladle was there to meet it. It was not often that he met an enemy that he could actually use Crystalyst against fully, this could be fun.

His blade flared vibrantly, not from a sword skill but from excitement if Cronan had to guess. The living weapon was reacting to its wielders emotions and Cronan grinned all the wider.

"So you're excited too, huh?" The warrior-smith brought his blade into position and as it flared to life again he shifted slightly, activating the diagonal swinging sword skill.

Sky groaned and pushed herself the sound of sword skills echoed through the room and her skull. She slowly opened her left eye to witness Cronan and the Duchess exchanging slow, heavy blows. The Duchess' health bar was depleting faster than her comrades but the rate at which they decreased was still abysmally slow, they could be here for a while.

"Please," The Mockturtle rasped from his position against the wall. "Do you have cold water?" Sky blinked rapidly in attempt to ward off the small spots that floated in her vision. Slowly, deliberately she opened her menu and materialized a water bottle, as she approached him the Mockturtle made no movements so she carefully placed the bottle to the creature's mouth and let the water trickle over its tongue and down its throat.

She spent several minutes just letting the water drip into his mouth until the turtle found the strength to hold the bottle in his claws. Once he was sipping on the liquid on his own the swordswoman materialized another water bottle and set to work slowly pouring it over his reddened skin and shell, he winced as the cold liquid made content but made no movement other than taking more sips from his own water supply.

As she tended to the NPC Sky kept track of her guild, watching their movements and health with an attentive gaze. Cronan was no worse for wear his health had dipped into the yellow since she had last seen him but the health potion he had chugged would be taking effect any moment now. The warrior-smith had abandoned his sword skills as the Duchess would simply cancel them out with her own.

So instead the two heavy hitting fighters slugged it out with simple sword swings. The hits would do little damage as the System did not like to calculate damage that wasn't caused by a sword skill, but a little damage would go a long way in a prolonged battle such as this.

Sky watched in amazement as his sword continued to shine brighter and brighter, taking on a glow that would have outshone any torch or lamp that they had come across. A feral grin was plastered to the warrior's face, teeth bared and eye lit with barbaric glee. Sky grimaced and poured a little more water over the turtle, she really had to keep a better watch over him when he fought.

A loud scream from the other side of the room grabbed Sky's attention and her eyes scanned the room until she found the were-boar and Vlinn. The warrior had yet to be hit beyond a slight skim from the creature's tusks but in the same breath the boar had almost as much HP as it did when the battle had begun.

The monsters reaction time was far above what the warrior had anticipated and he had yet to compensate and become accustomed to the boars speed. Sky frowned in something reminiscent of disappointment; he still had yet to catch up to her or Cronan. Unconsciously her hand crept toward Yama's hilt and her body shifted into a forward stance. A sigh from the Mockturtle attracted Sky's attention and she dropped her hand back to the side and turned to the already recovering creature.

"Thank you," The Mockturtle said slowly, he took time to carefully enunciate each word. "If you had not arrived when you did, I would have been soup!" He chuckled a little and smiled (which was very odd for a turtle to do) and he set the empty water bottle on the ground. Sky materialized another and handed it to him; he took it with a grateful nod and drank it with more vigor than he had shown with the other bottle.

"Are you going to be alright," Sky asked, watching as he drained the bottle.

"Yes," He nodded. "So long as your friends there do not lose." He gestured at the battles with a clawed hand.

"They won't lose," Sky answered confidently. The Mockturtle studied her briefly and upon seeing the glint of sureness in her eyes, nodded again.

"That is good," He chuckled, setting down the bottle and resting his head against the cool stone wall. "I would hate to have to go back into that pot there."

"May I ask you something?"

"You just did my dear," The Mockturtle chuckled at the joke that was probably as old as he was, which was to say; ancient. Sky took a moment to wrestle under control the exasperated sigh that was rising from her lungs.

"The Caterpillar said you could help us get into the Queen of Hearts castle."

"Ah, him," The turtle mused, stroking his chin. "How is he doing if you do not mind me asking?" Sky's jaw clenched to keep down her urge to scream.

"He is fine sir," Sky said through gritted teeth. "Is what he said true or not?"

"Yes, he was correct, as he is about most things." The ancient creature sighed. "I was once one of the queen's court. A group that served as the judges of Wonderland, however I grew tired of the court, of the decisions and the executions. One tends to tire of politics and death when spoken in the same breath."

Sky's patience was vast indeed but not unending and she found that the Mockturtle was pushing her boundaries very dangerously. The Mockturtle looked past her at the battle with the were-boar.

"I never would have taken the Marquis of Clubs to have been a shape shifter," The turtle narrowed his eyes at the battle. "Are you sure your friend is going to be okay?" Vlinn dashed away from the monster, spouting a steady stream of profanities. The were-boar had once again surprised him with its speed, the boar's tusks had only just missed the warrior, and instead they caught a hold of his cloak and ripped a fair hole in it.

"Do you know how much it's going to cost me to repair that!?" Vlinn shouted at the boar. " _And_ I'm going to have to deal with that she-devil!"

"He'll be fine," Sky sighed, curiously she had not seen Mary-Anne, Sky ignored the thought and turned her attention to Cronan. The warrior-smith had lost the wild look in his eyes; instead it was replaced with a glare of concentration. The Duchess was a fair hand with that ladle and Cronan had found himself following her rhythm for some time now.

"As you already know," The Mockturtle continued. "The Duchess of Clubs found me and decided that I would make delicious soup, and here we are. As I was once privy to access of the castle I know one of the passphrases that will appease the Gryphon."

"What is it?" Sky asked hurriedly but the Mockturtle held his clawed appendage up.

"For all I know the Queen may have changed the phrases," He warned darkly, looking her in the eye. "The passphrase is _'Clubs for our enemies, spades for their graves. Diamonds from their blood, Hearts for our Queen.'_ "

"That's the passphrase?" Sky raised an eyebrow at the older creature who simply nodded. Alright, who was she to argue with a fifty foot tall lion-eagle? "Thank you sir." Sky bowed her head respectfully at the Mockturtle who smiled in return.

"Perhaps you should assist your comrades, young one," The turtle gestured at the battlefield but Sky shook her head in response.

"They should be ending things soon," The guild-leader smiled as she turned her attention toward her guild-mates. "You hear that boys!? It's time to finish up!"

"Let's see you take on the roid raging pork-chop then!" Vlinn snapped back as he ducked beneath a wide swing of the boar's fist.

"She isn't giving much ground over here either!" Cronan called as he brought Crystalyst up to block a heavy blow of the Duchess' ladle. Sky scanned the battlefield quickly, she decided that Vlinn could fend for himself a little longer, the Duchess took priority. Sky was just pulling Yama from its resting place when she finally noticed the blonde maid inching her way toward the table.

Mary-Anne seized the cup of pepper from the table and with stunning precision hurled it at the Duchess. Cronan, sensing the incoming projectile, leapt back just as the iron cup hit the Duchess' right in her abnormally small nose. The pepper exploded in a black cloud that surrounded the wide woman.

She erupted into a violent sneeze and then another and another. The sneezing was followed each time by a violent shuddering of the Duchess' body almost as if she was having a seizure. Her violent throes led her nearer and nearer toward Mary-Anne and when she was close enough the maid shoved her mistress into the fireplace.

One last sneeze blew a small amount of pepper toward the flames and within moments the fire found the rest of the substance and in a fiery explosion the Duchess vanished. The flames died down, seemingly sated, leaving the Oath Keepers and the were-boar in stunned silence.

"Since when is pepper made out of gunpowder?" Cronan asked as he slipped Crystalyst into the leather loop on his back. Any forth coming answer was interrupted by loud screaming, the boar had reverted to its human form and the toddler was now crying for want of its departed mother. Vlinn watched the baby suspiciously, Enrapture stayed bared for the moment.

The loot screen popped to life in front of the guild and Vlinn and Sky dismissed it, Cronan however stared at an item curiously.

"Queen of Clubs?" Sky arched an eyebrow at the warrior-smith.

"I got the Jack of Hearts when we killed the knave," She said, moving closer to examine Cronan's window. "Maybe there is significance to them?"

"Maybe," Cronan said in mock excitement as he moved the item to the trash section of his inventory. Sky narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head.

"I guess this makes us even," Sky and Cronan glanced at Vlinn to find that he was addressing the maid. "I'm glad I let you go." Mary-Anne grimaced and kept her eyes on the floor.

"I am thankful that you gave me a second chance," She said quietly. "Unfortunately I will have to find employment again and I would rather not go back to the rabbit." The Mockturtle's chuckling brought the groups eyes to him.

"Now that I can return home a thought just struck me," He informed the confused NPC. "My old maid retired not long ago and I need a replacement, you'll find I treat my staff kindly and they are quite friendly." The girls grimace slowly shifted into a small smile, she offered small curtsey.

"Master," She said with bowed head. The turtle chuckled again and the guild was just starting to feel the warm fuzzies when the baby began to cry again. Vlinn stood over it passively, watching it cry out; the Cheshire cat had decided to re-appear and wrapped itself around the warrior's shoulders. Cronan glanced at him suspiciously, the cat seemed to be whispering.

"I suppose we will have to decide what to do with him," The Mockturtle mused and in response Mary-Anne moved to retrieve the child but froze as tusks began to grow from its mouth again. An alert flared at Vlinn's peripherals but he ignored it, he could guess as to what it was.

The warrior flipped his hanger-sword into a reverse grip and raised it higher. Before Sky could say anything the sword stabbed down, marking its descent into the NPC with a red line. The child-boar gave one last scream as it burst into data fragments. The Mockturtle narrowed its eyes and Mary-Anne's hands leapt to her mouth.

Sky's mouth was mid-snarl when Vlinn screamed.

And screamed.

The pain stabbed into his skull, hot and slow. The player dropped to his knees and his fists leapt to his skull, Enrapture clattered off of the stone floor. Vlinn pressed his head into the stone, still screaming.

He cried out in pain until his throat was sore and then he blacked out. His loot screen floated above him, forgotten. Jack of Clubs sat in the inventory section, serving as a reminder to his guild-mates as to how much the cost of time was in Wonderland.


	34. Get Out of Jail Free Card

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Get Out of Jail Free Card_**

 ** _October 27_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 9:06 am_**

The monsters wings beat heavily in the crisp morning air, each down stroke propelled the beast closer to the castle and repelled the mist that had formed over the lake and of course attempted to curl around the leader of the Oath Keepers. The guild gripped the Gryphons fur with hands like vises. It seemed that the monster's AI didn't have a very long memory as it had not attacked them when Sky blew the horn a second time or it just did not give a damn.

Sky had offered the passphrase when asked and the Gryphon had stooped low enough for them to climb onto its back. Once they were seated the creature had rocketed of toward the castle that they were now approaching.

The Red Castle loomed over the foggy waters, giant and evil. The black stone was accented by rose red windows and the light from inside the castle shone through the glass, casting red light across the stone building.

"Oh look," Cronan yelled (as he would not have been heard otherwise). "The windows are heart shaped; do you think she likes hearts or something?" Sky snorted and rolled her eyes, behind them Vlinn said nothing. Sky expected a chuckle at the very least, she glanced at the red armored player, the bags under his eyes were much more pronounced than normal. The warrior gripped the creature's fur and trained his glare on the castle that they were slowly approaching. The swordswoman's brow furrowed in worry, he had not spoken since he had awoken from being rendered unconscious when he had…She would rather not think about that last part.

Cronan placed a hand on his leaders shoulder and shook his head: _Leave it alone._ Sky understood the unspoken words perfectly; she grimaced in reply and turned her attention back to their objective. The Gryphon had begun to circle the stronghold and now its circles were getting tighter and slower as he brought them into a rather impressive courtyard. The creature dropped to its belly as soon as its feet touched the well-tended grass and the guild slid off.

The beast nodded its head at them and then took off, buffeting the ground and guild with powerful winds. When the creature was once again just a speck in the sky the guild turned their attention to the courtyard.

The Gryphon had dropped them off in what looked like a croquet court, judging by the silver arches tamped into the ground. A pond sat to the side of the course in which lazed several flamingoes of varying color and size.

"Pretty," Sky muttered as her gaze swept across the whole of the immediate area. Lawn chairs (expensive, fancy, high class lawn chairs) sat to the side opposite the pond, along the castle's outer wall. Finally, between the guild and the main hall of the castle proper was a very large hedge maze.

Roses covered the maze in mass amounts and curiously enough the flowers dripped red liquid.

"Painting the roses red," Cronan commented even as Sky dragged her finger across one of the red oozing plants. Her finger wiped away the paint, revealing the white petal beneath; the guild-leader chuckled and then turned her attention to the archway that marked the entrance of the maze.

"I'm just going to assume that we have to go through this to get to the queen," Sky said and with a shrug led her guild into the flowery labyrinth.

"You're not even going to try hopping over the hedges? Or jump on top of them and guide us?" Cronan raised an eyebrow at the significantly shorter player.

"Why? So I can get shocked or shot at or plucked up by a frickin' dragon?" She shook her head slowly. "Uh-uh, no thank you." The group paused at the first split of the maze, after a moment of indecision Sky turned right and resumed her purposeful march. Vlinn remained at the split, gazing at the left corridor and then he shrugged and hurried to catch up with his companions.

They continued along the winding splitting path, relying on Sky whenever they came to a fork in the pathway. It was at the eleventh or perhaps twelfth split that the party finally decided to rest for a moment and give Sky time to decide. Not that she needed time really, she had already selected the left path but taking a break was a good idea. There was no telling what they would find in the maze and it would be better to be as rested as possible.

"Have you decided which way to go?" Someone asked.

"I'm thinking about left," The swordswoman answered as she turned…and found herself nose to nose with the Cheshire cat. The almost omnipotent being smiled widely at her and she in turn responded with a frown and a slow, deliberate, unimpressed blink.

"We're never going to get rid of you are we?" Cronan asked from his seat on a conveniently placed bench.

"Probably not," The cat was quick to answer as he floated around on his back. "And I would not go left if I were you."

"And why is that," Sky sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Cheshire shrugged in reply, which was an odd motion as he used his lower legs to do so.

"I just wouldn't."

"No cryptic hint? No riddle or rhyme that has the answer hidden? No choice that makes us question our sanity?" Cronan leaned back and looked at the cat expectantly. The creature froze midair and its head spun around to gaze at the warrior-smith.

"Well, if you insist," He grinned his grin. "The path on the left leads to a grave, the path on the right leads to a gem." And with a wink and a smile he disappeared.

"Spades and Diamonds," Cronan rolled his eyes and slumped further into the bench. "So really we have to decide which one we want to fight, which would be a nice choice if we actually knew anything about either of those suits."

"I am still inclined to go left," Sky mused glancing at the pathway in mention. "Just to be spiteful." Cronan grunted in reply and glanced at the red armored player that sat near to him.

"Any preference?"

Vlinn stared at both paths briefly and then shrugged.

"Diamonds," He asked more than said. Cronan glanced at their leader who nodded slowly.

"Sure, why not," Sky said, she gestured at her guild and then moved toward the right path. If they were expecting a fight as soon as they turned the corner, they were disappointed. The botanical corridor continued on with no interruption for a very long time, it deviated from a straight course often but there was never another intersection or an option to switch routes.

The path just seemed to go on and on and as they continued along they found that the maze was beginning to change. The hedges grew together at the tops, forming a dark, green canopy, blocking out the sun and only allowing a very meager amount of light to penetrate through.

The roses grew less beautiful, older, deeper in they began to wilt and to dull in color, they still dripped red, however it began to look less like paint and more like blood. The thorns and vines that accompanied the roses grew larger and became more frequent. The thorns choked the hedges and any other plant life that had once been common. Eventually the guild was walking through a maze of thorns, dead grass and bleeding roses.

Sky soon found herself opening her menu more frequently than was required, constantly checking for either a quest update or a message of some kind. Cronan found that her eyes also tended to wander up and right, where the time would be on her HUD. The warrior-smith grimaced but kept his thoughts to himself, he was worried too but if he allowed himself to panic outwardly then that would just weaken them as a whole.

Vlinn too observed his leader's anxiousness and he found it to be contagious. Often the warrior would find his hand trailing to Enrapture's hilt and every few minutes he too wanted to start fussing with his menu but like Cronan he fought down the urges. If Sky had her menu up it looked like she was doing something productive but if all three of them were to start it would only convey weakness.

Eventually the maze opened into a small circular courtyard that sprung with verdant green life. A stone fountain sat in the middle; a depiction of a dragon-like creature sat upon the pedestal in the fountain and gushed out a solid stream of water. Crimson rose petals floated delicately in the water that filled the basin, slowly being pushed about by the currents produced by the fountain. Four stone benches were arranged in each direction and centered around the fountain.

On the bench nearest to the guild sat a slim woman, her back was turned to the players as she gazed at the rippling surface in the fountain. Raven hair tumbled off her shoulders down to the small of her back, that was all the players could see of her and it would be the one thing that they remembered most about the encounter.

The woman sighed and turned her emerald stare upon the guild. The woman's features were delicate, her nose was small and sharp and her cheek bones were high giving her a noble appearance. The armor she bore was light red in color, bore the diamond patter and was rather sparse where armor was concerned. Her metal breastplate covered just that and her grieves were no better as they left much of her slender thighs bare.

Vlinn let out a low whistle and Cronan, grunting in agreement, ran an eye appreciatively over the warrior before them. Sky rolled her eyes and scoffed at the two idiots behind her. Slowly the woman approached, taking graceful, sure steps, she moved like a warrior. A sword belt dangled off of her hips loosely, on which sat a thin blade, a rapier. She stopped several feet away from the guild and watched them for a moment, perhaps analyzing them or perhaps collecting her thoughts.

"And so you are here," She finally said quietly, her voice, though quiet and melodious, bore the weight of authority. Her hand rested easily on the sword's hilt and she tilted her chin up slightly, proudly.

"And so we are," Vlinn spoke first, stepping past his comrades. Sky blinked in surprise, that had been his first complete sentence that day. The raven-haired woman took a moment to consider the red clad warrior before her.

"It is a shame," She continued. "That you chose this path or that you made it this far at all. I abhor violence, unlike the rest of my family. Although I suppose you are lucky to have chosen my path, had you gone the other way you would have met Avarus and he does so enjoy playing with his victims. I will be swift and merciful."

"It would be far more merciful to let us go," Cronan said, smiling hopefully at the NPC. The woman returned the smile with a glare, she slowly shook her head.

"I may detest my duty but I shall not shirk from it. Now, if you wish to continue past you will have to defeat me." The woman slowly drew her rapier but held it down at her side. None of the guild moved.

"I'm guessing you are the Duchess of diamonds," Sky queried as she examined the warrior. The guild-leader was answered with a hateful glare.

"I am Tristitia the marchioness of Diamonds and I will thank you to never compare me to my mother."

"Parent issues," Cronan muttered to Vlinn. "She must be at that age." Vlinn answered him with a grim smile but nothing more, instead he drew his weapon and stepped forward to face the woman.

"Vlinn," Sky called. "Maybe I should take this one or we can all fight her."

"Perhaps your friend is right," Tristitia said, looking down her nose at the red warrior. "You may not be-" The woman's eyes widened as she found herself cut off as Enrapture appeared at her throat with its wielder standing right next to her.

"Perhaps you should worry about yourself," Vlinn answered, he lowered the hanger-sword and stepped away. The distant look in the marchioness' eyes disappeared, replaced by a hateful glare.

"Come then," She hissed and darted forward, thrusting her rapier for Vlinn's stomach. The warrior stepped to the side and slapped her blade away and then brought the curved blade back up. Tristitia leaned backwards, avoiding his blade; she stepped back and brought her rapier into position. As the weapon flared to life with color she darted forward again, this time the tip of her blade was aimed for her opponents face.

Unfortunately for her he was no longer there, Vlinn dashed along the opposite side of the fountain, moving almost as fast as she was with her sword skill. The player skidded to a stop as he came back around the water feature, the player set his sword into skill position and let a red glow emit from the blade.

Vlinn let loose the charging type skill and dashed for his opponent faster than most targeting systems could keep track of. The marchioness had little trouble avoiding the attack however; she leapt over the warrior and landed behind him to unleash a barrage of glowing thrusts at the players back.

Vlinn had enough sense to spin to the side as soon as his sword skill ended; just avoiding the first of the strikes, his cloak however was caught in the crossfire. The player grimaced as shreds were torn from the fabric; _I guess that poor thing is a lost cause._ He returned her attack with several unassisted strikes of his own, more so to set his opponent on the defensive than to do actual damage.

The woman however was just as fast defensively as she was on the offensive and she easily parried aside each strike. The last one however she slipped under and delivered a stab to Vlinn's side. The player swore and backed away, warding off another thrust with a well-placed parry.

The warrior continued to back pedal and Tristitia pressed the advantage, throwing a storm of both sword skill thrusts and unassisted ones at the fleeing player. Vlinn was able to deflect a few but the majority of the strikes found their way past his guard. The player silently thanked his blacksmith friend for his armor as it was the only reason his health had not fallen into the red.

Vlinn flicked one thrust aside and answered with a stab of his own which was easily dodged. The player quickly cut across with his blade and as the woman danced back he slashed diagonally, slowly but surely moving into a combination of sweeping slashes and quick stabs. Of course the marchioness stayed several moves ahead of him and often Vlinn would find a thrust heading toward him.

Finally the woman created enough of an opening to activate a basic thrusting sword skill. Before Vlinn knew it he had a rapier rushing point first for his heart.

The warrior crouched low and then jettisoned himself backwards, dashing in reverse had never occurred to him until his brief battle with the Hatter and now he found that he was glad that players could also achieve the feat.

However putting room between himself and his opponent proved to be a mistake on the retreating player's part. The woman adopted a low, side-ways stance, her off hand was held forward pointing toward her opponent while she held her rapier high and parallel to the ground, the basket hilt seemed to almost be resting on her cheek bone.

Near the entrance of the small green oasis Sky's eyes widened as she recognized the form. When she had used a rapier she had often used that skill and to great effect, it was fast, faster than Vlinn anyway and the damage it dealt if it hit was monstrous.

"Vlinn move!" Sky shouted, her hand leapt to her katana and she leaned forward to dash to her comrade's aid. An iron-firm grip stopped her; Cronan pulled his leader back and shook his head slowly, he grimaced, wanting to rush to his friend's aid as much as she did but no, this was not a fight between player's and monsters. This was a duel between warriors and game or not, that was something to be respected.

Vlinn had heard his leaders warning but the advice was unheeded, the sword skill would skewer him before he could evade it which left him with two options, take the hit or block it and neither looked very appealing to the warrior. He felt his legs tense in anticipation of fleeing but he held his ground, running would serve no purpose now. Instead he adopted his own form, he stood on the balls of his feet, body leaning forward slightly, Enrapture was held to his side, tip pointed at the ground. The players hand was turned slightly so the back of it faced his body while the edge of his weapon faced away from him.

The weapon shone a brilliant crimson as the sword skill charged, Vlinn's gaze locked onto his opponent and he waited, muscles tensed. The skill he was using Windswept was a very useful skill indeed, if the player could time it right. Vlinn had yet to use the skill correctly when engaged with monsters that were much slower than he. Now that he was fighting something far stronger and who attacked faster than almost any player he had seen…frankly he had his doubts.

With a snarl his opponent released her sword skill Flashing Penetrator and just like that the marchioness was gone, an almost solid wall of air was left behind her, a cloud of sorts. Cronan's eyes widened as the enemy disappeared and Sky could do nothing but grit her teeth and hope, within a millisecond of the woman disappearing a powerful boom of thunder rent the air, shaking the small clearing.

Moments before she reached her target Tristitia became visible again, albeit with a trail of white haze following her, much like a comet. The burst of speed offered by the skill was tremendous but temporary, although the small moment was more than enough.

The moment his opponent had reappeared Vlinn activated his skill.

Luck does not play a large part in SAO, it is present, like any other RPG, but it is a hidden parameter, one that players cannot manipulate. Of course between the players carefully choosing their targets, gear and other aspects and the Cardinal Systems constant calculations, luck is usually never a factor.

However in that one moment luck shone through like a brilliant star. Had Vlinn released his skill even a millisecond before or after he had, it would have missed completely and he would most likely have died and once was more than enough for him thank you very much.

Enrapture swung up, just connecting with the rapiers tip, driving both weapons upward even as Vlinn's body leaned forward, angling lower. The curved weapon slid down the enemy weapon's length as the marchioness' momentum continued to carry her on a straight path. Enrapture cut deep into her torso even as she rushed past, Vlinn planted his foot and spun around to face his opponent who had her back now open to attack.

He bent his knees and brought Enrapture to rest on his shoulder, the weapon flared orange almost instantly, as was the advantage of a basic sword-skill. His opponents grace and skill were the only factors keeping her from falling flat on her face from the failed maneuver. She spun to face the warrior just as he leapt forward, Vlinn thrust his weapon at her just before his feet touched the ground and the skill propelled him forward even faster, his sword acting like a jet engine.

The hanger pierced his opponent's unarmored left shoulder and his larger mass threw her onto her back. Vlinn's boot came to rest on the prone woman and Enrapture's tip rested on her collarbone. The red armored warrior didn't bother trying to hide his exertion, his breaths came labored and heavy and his shoulders rose and fell with the effort.

"Now," He gasped. "Do you surrender?"

"Intimidating," Cronan chuckled; he turned a grin to Sky to find that she had finally released her death grip on her weapon's hilt. "See, told you he would be fine." The guild-leader rolled her eyes even as she suppressed a sigh that she had not been aware she was holding in.

"Well?" Vlinn raised an eyebrow as he finally wrestled his breathing under control. Tristitia glared at him, chin raised defiantly.

"No, I will never surrender, finish it." She lifted her chin further to expose her throat to the blade. The player grimaced and gripped his sword tighter, not yet moving it from her collar bone. "Well?" The marchioness demanded, she held his gaze determinedly.

"Looks like you have a decision to make," A familiar voice echoed through the glade, Vlinn suppressed a sigh.

"Not again!" Cronan groaned and Sky growled in agreement, that cat was the last thing she wanted to show up at the moment.

"If you let her go," The Cheshire cat informed Vlinn from his position on top of the fountains stone figure. "She will only be a problem later on and you will most likely have to fight her again. And I dare say I doubt you will do as well a second time." Vlinn's gaze dropped to the woman he now held at his mercy, the cat was right of course, if he were to fight her again he would certainly be killed. He had won the short duel through luck alone.

The player kept his eyes on the woman's defiant gaze, he did not look at his comrades, they couldn't help him here.

"You know," Vlinn said. "I listened to your advice on how to deal with the were-boar and that didn't end so well. I think I'll have to pass on assistance this time around." Tristitia's eyes narrowed as Enrapture was withdrawn from her neck and slid back into its scabbard with practiced movements.

"This is dishonorable," The woman hissed.

"What's dishonorable is throwing your life away for a cause you don't believe in," The warrior did not bother to look at her as he joined his friends at the exit of the maze. "Try fighting for something you actually want to fight for." The woman watched in disbelief as the Oath Keepers left the maze, leaving her with her life intact.

Outside the hedge maze Vlinn grasped his head and growled quietly as pain split through his skull. Evidently that was the wrong choice, _Tough shit Chessy_. The player waved away his friends looks of concern and instead focused his gaze on the doors to the Red Castle's main hall.

"Of course they would be heart shaped," Cronan muttered, looking very much exhausted.

"I'm pretty over the whole heart theme too," Sky agreed, she approached the door only to be stopped as the massive constructs swung open and a cohort of card soldiers spilled out. The small guild found themselves surrounded by three different suits of cards, thirty enemies overall and behind them stood two extravagantly armored players, one adorned in diamonds, the other in spades.

"The dukes I presume," Sky muttered, through great effort she managed to keep her hand away from her beloved Yama. The Duke of Diamonds stepped forward and the soldiers stepped to the side creating a path for him.

"Under order of the Queen you are all under arrest for trespass and murder among other accusations. Have you anything to say in your defense?" There was a moment of silence as Cronan and Vlinn glanced at each other, oh they had something to say alright.

"Guys," Sky hissed warningly, she was ignored and the guild leader found out rather quickly how hard the dungeon floor was.

The dungeons were located on the opposite side of the castle in comparison to the throne room, which was where they wanted to be.

"Oh well done," Sky applauded mockingly.

"I don't know why they took offense to that," Vlinn shrugged from his seat on one of the cots that decorated their rather large cell.

"All I asked was how he fit his helmet on his head when it was so big," Cronan said defensively, "It was just a question, which he never answered I might add!"

"Well you did throw in that bit about his mother," Vlinn answered.

"You were the one that mentioned it!"

"And you answered!"

Sky groaned and let herself drop face first onto the cot she had claimed, which was probably a mistake considering how often they cleaned things in the dungeon, which was to say never.

"Hello?" A very quiet voice called. "Is someone there?" Cronan snapped to attention as his listening skill picked up the voice. He held up a hand to quiet Vlinn and moved to the wall that the voice seemed to be coming from.

"Hello?" He answered, Sky and Vlinn approached curiously.

"Oh thank goodness!" The voice cried. "I was ever so lonely here, are you alright?"

"Yes we are fine, who are you?"

"My name is Alice."

The players glanced at each other and then back at the stone wall.

"Alice!?" Behind the wall the girl squeaked in surprise at the assault of voices.

"Yes." She replied even more quietly than before.

"We've been looking for you!" Cronan said, moving closer to the wall. "We're going to rescue you!"

"From inside a cell?" Came the skeptical reply.

"Yeah there was a bit of a snag in our plan," Vlinn said. "But don't you worry, we'll get you out!" He was answered with a sigh.

"My trial is tomorrow and I fear it will not go well." The girl sounded frightened which was understandable given the situation. "I…I just want to go home." She sniffed and soon after began to sob. The players looked at each other grimly, they had no idea how but they needed to save the little girl.

The guild spent most of the night discussing strategy and planning their escape. They had already had Cronan attempt to break through the iron bars, it had not gone well. Of course no one had the lock picking skill or the tools to begin to use so that was out of the question. The keys to their cell lay on a wooden desk a mere eight feet away and they had no way of reaching it.

Unfortunately they would not be leaving their cell anytime soon and time was something they were running out of.

When they finally went to bed it was but a few hours until sunrise and they were roused from slumber as the guards came to collect Alice. The little girl was pushed along violently and when Sky protested she was jabbed with the butt end of a spear.

Alice glanced shakily at her would be rescuers; tears were already beginning to from at her eyes. She glanced pleadingly at them as she was ushered along the corridors and then she was gone. Vlinn ground his teeth together as he glared at the ceiling above them, Sky's mind raced with as many ideas as she could come up with, each more desperate and even less likely than the last.

With no other option before him Cronan drew a fist back and slammed it into the stone wall. He drew back again and his glowing hand darted back toward the stone, unfortunately the only thing he was rewarded with was the warning message, informing him that he was hitting an unbreakable object.

"Yeah thanks," He growled, before pounding another glowing fist into the wall. The general mood in the cell had sunk beyond its usual depressed state. Before there had been the threat of being trapped there and it had loomed heavily over them. Now the threat had become a certainty Vlinn wasn't sure what sucked more, the fact that they would be imprisoned in Wonderland or that the thought came before worrying about the little girl.

Sky sat at the edge of her cot, chewing on her nail. The idea of the young girl being executed brought her back to another girl that had been lost before her time, that memory was not one that she wanted to relive but it was about to become an eventuality. Little did she know that it was those memories that drove Cronan to continue his assault on the wall.

The guild was ripped from their separate contemplations by the sound of iron keys jingling. The cell door swung open and a red armored woman beckoned at them to follow her.

"You?" Vlinn leapt down from the cot and the guild slowly approached the door. Tristitia pressed a finger to her lips, demanding silence. The followed her out of their cell and into an adjoining corridor that was lined with heavy wooden doors. She slowly opened one, wincing when it creaked and ushered them in quickly.

To their astonishment and excitement the guild found their weapons and armor scattered across a table, underneath the table rested a chest which most certainly held their other possessions. The players grabbed their equipment while the marchioness of Diamonds stood watch at the door, her rapier sat easily in her grip but it was un-needed, all of the soldiers would be attending the trial.

"The trial will be held in the throne room, do not worry, the corridors go almost straight to it." She told the guild hurriedly, she slid her weapon into her scabbard as they marched out into the corridor. She stopped them at the hallway that the soldiers had escorted Alice down. "Just follow along, if you get lost just keep moving forward, this castle was designed around the throne room."

"Thank you Tristitia," Sky said, Cronan smiled at her and the two headed down the corridor at a quick pace. Vlinn remained behind briefly.

"Have you found something worth fighting for already?" The woman returned his questioning stare with a neutral one.

"Consider us even," She answered instead, with that she spun around and headed off down a different corridor. Vlinn watched her for a moment before running down the hallway after his friends, a small smirk found its way to his face.


	35. Ante Up

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _Ante Up_**

 ** _October 28_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 8:10 am_**

She was scared, terrified really. Hundreds of people, animals and assorted creatures peered at her, some critically, others with almost sickening neutrality. How could they sit there and not care, she was going to _die!_

The petite blonde girl glanced at the jury to her right; it was made up completely of animals in their posh clothing. Unfortunately they all seemed to favor the negative position with regards to her. Alice bit her already trembling lip; it would not do for her to show weakness in front of so many creatures that wanted to see her head separated from-

 _No, stop right there Alice!_ The little girl berated herself silently, her finger nails dug into the palms of her hands to try and distract her. Instead she took stock of her surroundings, the throne room, which seemed to double as a court room was a very large, rectangular, stone room.

She, in her small prisoner's platform, was placed in the very center of the room. The jury was to her right in their seated platform, in front of her and on either side sat two tables, presumably for the defense attorney and the prosecutor, curiously both seats were empty. Behind her sat a large crowd of animals and people, all speaking animatedly as they waited for her head to- _now there you go again Alice!_

Large double doors on the side of the room swung open, causing a hush to fall over the crowd. In hopped the White Rabbit, _the one that tricked me into this place to begin with!_ Alice fixed the rabbit with a very angry glare as he made his way to the front of the room. The creature stopped in front of the main stand, which housed both the witness booth and the Queen's overly large throne, and presented them with a small, gold bugle. The Rabbit played a short burst of notes just to silence any mumbles and then cleared his throat.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the court, please arise for her most majestic majesty, the Queen of Hearts!" There was a great rustling as everyone in attendance stood up (except for Alice of course but she was already standing and no one had thought to be kind enough to get her a chair). The doors swung open again and this time the Queen strode through with graceful, purposeful steps.

The Queen was a tall woman, taller even than her husband whom stood even with their Ace. The Queen's slim waist was hidden beneath the hoop skirt of her black and red dress, which was adorned in hearts. As she walked she regarded the room with twin pools of crystal blue, there was a cold fury hidden beneath her calm orbs. She ran her eyes over the room, taking in every detail, as her eyes fell on Alice she held them there for a moment, sending a shiver down the little girl's spine.

The graceful woman, with rather beautiful features Alice had to admit, walked down the center aisle, flanked by her husband and the Ace of Hearts. As she ascended the stairs to her throne the King took his seat on a platform a great deal lower than hers. The Ace stood on one side of Alice while a man in heavy armor placed himself opposite the card soldier.

The heavily armored man bore the spade symbol on his shoulder and carried an axe, which he let hang limply at his side.

"You may be seated," The Queen ordered in her pleasant-sounding, if a little deep, voice. There was another great amount of rustling, moans and sighs as the occupants of the room lowered themselves into their respective seats. Alice began the motion only to remember that she did not have one. The Queen watched the girl with interest before turning to the guards that lined either wall of the throne room. "Who was in charge of the girl?"

Uncertainly the Ten of Diamonds stepped forward and raised his hand. The Queen was silent for a moment as she examined the soldier before her.

"Did you not think it necessary to give her a chair?"

"I-uh-I-I," The soldier stuttered violently, his eyes widened and Alice could not understand why, until…

"Off with his head!" The Queen shrieked, her voice cracked as it leaped up several octaves. Alice blinked in shock and her mouth dropped forming an "o", the calm and collected Queen's face was bright scarlet and veins threatened to burst along her forehead and neck. Without hesitation the Duke of Spades stepped forward, axe cutting a deadly arc in the air.

The Ten of Hearts exploded into polygons but only after his head had rolled along the floor, eventually stopping in front of Alice. The girl's eyes widened in horror and she fought to keep a gasp from escaping.

On her high backed throne the Queen took several deep breaths and slowly the red drained from her delicate face. The Duke returned to his position beside Alice and he threw her a sidelong wink. The girl felt a chill run down her spine and she felt very, very small, almost as small as when she had drank the potion that the Cheshire cat had shown her.

"Now then," The Queen said, bringing another hush over the room. "Let the trial commence." Alice did not think it wise to point out that she still did not have a chair.

 _Standing is not so bad,_ she told herself as she forced her eyes to look anywhere but at the Duke and his enormous axe.

"Bring in the first witness!" The King shouted in his high lilted voice. "The jury shall decide in this court whom is the culprit behind the recent disappearance of the royal tarts!" The White Rabbit blew on his horn as the door at the end of the throne/court room swung open.

 _Tarts?! That is what this is about!?_

Two guards escorted a very frightened looking Bill the Lizard into the witness' box and then proceeded to lock the small gate. The lizard glanced around, licking his lips nervously, his gaze fell upon his employer and Bill offered him a worried smile.

"'Ello boss sir," Bill said quietly so as not to disturb the quiet that had befallen the room. The rabbits face dropped when he had seen his groundskeeper enter the room, now he turned to the monarchs seated above him.

"Your majesty that man is in my employ!" His whiskers twitched excitedly as he gazed up at his rulers. "Surely he cannot know anything in regards to this case!" The Queen huffed and leaned back into her throne, content to let her husband handle the smaller more boring affairs.

"Calm yourself, herald," The King said, smiling jovially, the smile, Alice noticed, did not reach his eyes. "Your caretaker came into contact with the intruder several days ago, this means he has information we need, and no harm will come to him." The King settled back, expectant that the royal herald would be satisfied. To Alice's eyes however, he seemed anything but, the White rabbits whiskers continued to twitch and even his little bunny nose was restless; however he did not pursue the subject.

"Now, Bill, is it?" The King addressed the lizard. "When did you come in contact with the accused?"

"Tha' would be the girl there, correct y' majesty?" Bill's tongue darted around his lips again. The Queen let out a noise of disgust and she leaned forward to glare at the caretaker.

"He's useless, off with his head!"

"My dear," The King said patiently. "Perhaps we should hear what he has to say first?" The Queen's glare switched from the lizard to her husband, however she conceded with another disgusted noise and then slumped back in her throne, content to vent her obvious frustration through the clicking of her nails on the arm rest. "Please continue Bill and yes, that is the girl in question."

"Well sir-"

"Majesty," The King corrected gently, offering a warm smile. Bill nodded once and continued.

" _Majesty_ , the girl, Alice, came around my employers 'ome looking for him, the White Rabbit that is," The lizard paused briefly to glance at the jurors and guard. "Well we mistook her for my employer's maid, what with their hair color and all and so she was let into the 'ouse. Then she went an' exploded and grew ten feet tall!"

"She _exploded_ and then grew?" The King asked, eyebrow raised skeptically.

"Exploding is a crime," The Queen announced, honing her glare on the little girl. "As is growing to a height of over seven feet within an hour, is there anything you can tell about your encounter with the girl?" Bill shook his head nervously, he had not spoken to her himself after all. "Very well, if that is all you have to offer you are hereby charged with treason and sentenced to execution immediately." The Queen nodded to her executioner, the Duke, as the lizard cried out in fear. The White Rabbit wanted to protest but he stood frozen to the spot as the Duke of Spades axe swept through the air, removing Bill's head form his shoulders. Alice's delicate hand leapt to her mouth as a gasp escaped her, her eyes were brimming with tears and she felt her very meager dinner from the night before attempt to make a return trip.

 _Oh god!_ Her knees gave out and the blonde girl sank to the floor of her small prison.

"Next witness," The King announced, banging his gavel. The doors opened again and the guards dragged in a tan furred rabbit with a rather large rodent thrown over the shoulder of one of the guards. The March Hare and the Dormouse were thrown unceremoniously onto the floor of the witness box. The Queen's hate filled eyes centered on the two soldiers.

"And where is the _Hatter_?"

"Your majesty," One solider, the Eight of Hearts bowed low. "He resisted and we were forced to put him down." The Queen's lips turned up at the corners, forming a sadistic smile. Alice felt her bottom lip quiver and she bit down on it hard as she buried her face in her hands. The Hatter had been kind, if a little mad, how could he just be gone?

"Now then," The King resumed. "If you would please answer a few questions for the court?" The Hare took a sip from the tea cup that he had managed to hang on to during his violent tumble.

"This throne room seems smaller than the last time I was here," He commented, seemingly ignoring the king. The Dormouse answered him with a light snore which caught the Queen's notice.

"There is no sleeping in the court room!" She shouted, slamming the palm of her hand down on the arm of her throne. At the sound the rodent's head popped and he glanced around blearily, blinking rapidly. As his eyes refocused the central target of his sight happened to be the Queen's snarling visage. The poor mouse's eyes widened and he let out a terrified cry as he scrambled out of the witness' box.

There was a mass of movement as the guards rushed to detain the Dormouse. He proved to be quite agile as he dodged and danced around the several suits of soldiers chasing him. From the witness' area the hare cheered him on, taking great enjoyment in the entertainment provided by the chaos.

"Enough!" The Queen roared just as the Duke of Diamonds plucked up the Dormouse, holding him by the scruff of his neck. "Dungeon, both of them!" The red armored Duke nodded and signaled to two of his own soldiers to grab the hare. The Queen watched them leave, satisfied.

Alice sighed in relief, at least they still lived, she sniffed away the tears as best she could and slowly clambered to her feet. What she heard next almost floored just as she was getting on her feet.

"These witnesses are boring, let us just move on to the verdict," The Queen said insistently. _What kind of court is this!?_

"Very well my dear," The King answered, banging his gavel again. Alice felt her jaw drop and she was forced to grip the sides of her small wooden enclosure to keep herself up. "We shall hear now from the jury, foremen please present your findings." The King gestured to the jury box, the animal closest to the king, a ferret, stood and bowed.

"Your majesties, people of the court, the jury find the defendant, Alice Liddell, guilty on all accounts." Alice wanted to cry out in her defense but the words caught in her throat, she stood frozen as these strangers decided her fate. The crowd behind her was abuzz with discussion and it took several loud slams of the King's gavel to quiet them.

"The verdict is in," He said finally. "The defendant is found guilty and shall now be subjected to her punishment immediately. I hereby sentence Alice Liddell to death by traditional Wonderland execution!"

"Beheading," The Queen purred. The little girl wanted to scream, to run, to cry, to do anything! But there she stood, unmoving, unfeeling even as two soldiers grabbed her roughly and pulled her into the center of the room, throwing her and sending her sprawling to the floor. Another soldier dragged a headsman's block in front of her and the little girl was pulled forward and her head was forced down so her neck nestled into the slight depression.

The Duke of Spades positioned himself beside the kneeling girl, axe held erect beside him. He glanced up at the Queen who nodded her consent, smiling all the while. The black armored soldier brought his axe to bear, resting it briefly on the back of Alice's neck, eliciting a gasp from her.

He smiled at the sound and brought the axe above his head briefly before bringing back down to rest on her neck as he tested his swing arc. Finally he raised his weapon fully holding it above and behind his head, still calculating the perfect swing.

"Let this serve as a reminder," The Queen stated, standing and addressing the room. "That treason is an act punishable by death and will not be tolerated in my kingdom. Executioner, proceed." The Duke nodded and tensed his muscles as he imagined the path his axe would take one more time.

Alice squeezed her eyes shut, cutting off the beginnings of a new wave of tears. She wished she had never followed that rabbit, had never found this world of madness. She just wanted to go home, to see her family again and her friends and Dinah and- The axe made a whooshing noise at cut through the air toward the back of her neck. The girl gasped and squeezed her eyes even tighter.

A hush had fallen over the crowd and silence filled the room as the axe descended.

Alice had time for one more thought: _I want to go home!_

And then the silence was punctured by the slithering of steel across leather, the clash of metal and a fluttering sound of fabric.

For a moment the room retained its dignified silence and then chaos ensued. The occupants gasped, cried out and shouted their disdain. Above all the Queen could be heard, screeching in anger.

"Who dares disrupt my justice!?" Slowly Alice forced her eyes open and blinked away the tears that distorted her vision. Above her stood a red armored young man, his tattered cloak was still billowing from his inhuman sprint and his curved blade was held at the ready. Across the floor lay a small armory's worth of throwing knives. The Duke of Spades had taken a step away from the young man, a scowl on his face as he too held his axe in an offensive position.

"Justice?" Vlinn scoffed as his comrades stalked up the aisle behind him. Sky slipped away her remaining knives as Cronan rolled his neck to loosen up his muscles. "Lady I don't know where you went to law school but that is a messed up sense of justice you have." He turned his attention to the kneeling girl beside him and smiled kindly. "Are you okay? See, I told you we would get you." He offered a hand to the girl and helped her to her feet as his guild stopped beside them.

Sky smile comfortingly at the girl and Cronan threw her a wink.

"Sorry we're late," The warrior-smith grinned. "This place is a maze."

"How dare you?" The Queen roared, storming down the stairs of her thrones platform.

"How dare _we?_ " Sky's eyes flashed dangerously and Yama hissed as she drew it from its scabbard. "How dare _you_ sentence a little girl to death?" The guild-leader levelled her blade at the Queen, the two women locked glares.

"Looks like she already claimed the boss," Cronan grinned at Vlinn who smirked in return.

"I suppose we'll just have to deal with the scrubs then, eh?" The two male players' attention was drawn to the Queen as she finished her descent to the floor of the throne/court room.

"Take care of these fools," She ordered the card soldiers as she reached a side door. "Then finish the execution as ordered!" The Queen of Hearts slammed the door as she left, leaving the guild in a room alone with a multitude of enemies.

"I know she did _not_ just walk away from me," Sky hissed, eyes narrowing. She gripped the hilt of her katana tightly and ran her eyes over the soldiers that blocked her path to the door. "You two will be alright without me?"

"We'll manage," Vlinn replied, smiling in amusement, Cronan grinned in agreement as he pulled Crystalyst off of his back. Sky nodded and turned her attention back to the small crowd in front of the door, her eyes moved restlessly as she planned out her route. Finally the player took off, throwing several knives to throw the first few soldiers off balance.

She slid beneath a Spade soldier's axe and then threw herself into a forward roll between to more soldiers. She came out on her feet, still moving and Yama flashed out to turn aside another enemy's light blade. Sky leapt high over another one, tucking into a tight ball and somersaulting over a smaller group of soldiers.

She landed lightly on a Diamond soldier's shoulders and leapt one more time, finally landing in front of the door. She waved at her guild and slipped into the door way, shutting the exit behind her and leaving her partners in a room full of enemies with an almost unconscious girl for them to guard.

Vlinn scanned the room quickly, taking in the three different suits of card soldiers and the two higher tier warriors.

"There are a lot more enemies here than I had originally thought," The warrior remarked to his taller friend. The smith grunted in return as he too was taking stock of the battlefield, however his thoughts were more detailed and considered.

The Card Soldiers would not be too hard to deal with, especially if they could take out the Aces first, Cronan only saw the Ace of Hearts however. The same logic would be applied to the Duke of Spades, the blacksmith believed, that did leave them with no other option than to destroy all the Diamond soldiers however as neither Ace nor Duke were present for that suit.

"You ready?" Vlinn's voice shattered the warrior-smith's concentration. Cronan glanced at his partner to see that he was already in a sword skill position.

"Not really," He replied, readying his own blade. "But I don't suppose we're going to get the chance to prepare."

"No, because here they come." Vlinn directed the taller warrior's attention to the mass of soldiers approaching them. Fortunately enough the citizens had no ambition to join the one-sided fight and neither, it seemed, did the three stronger enemies. The Duke and Ace stood on either side of the King of Hearts, seemingly content to simply watch their minions work over the two warriors. "You said their strength was relative to their number right?" At Cronan's nod Vlinn grinned and focused on the area he wanted his skill to end. "Let's see how I do then."

The warrior released his charging type sword skill and raced toward the incoming soldiers. His blade cut the Two in half and heavily wounded the Three causing it to burst into light a moment later. However the Four of Diamonds was able to take Vlinn's attack and then proceed to counter, Vlinn was easily able to parry aside the blow and finish the soldier with a basic slashing sword skill.

Vlinn retreated to Cronan's side and the remaining enemies continued their march.

"So I can take out Two through Four with no problem, that will cut down their numbers rather quickly," Vlinn mused. "After I take those ones out do you think you can keep the rest of their attention?" At Cronan's nod the red armored warrior took off again, cutting easily through the lower numbered enemies, stop only to deliver a second or third strike to the remaining enemies he had targeted.

The other enemies took a sudden interest in Cronan when he activated his Howl skill and as the soldiers surrounded him the warrior let loose his Cyclone skill tossing aside and wounding the majority of the soldiers just as he had done to the Club soldiers days prior. As enemies hit the floor Vlinn would be there to finish them with a simple thrusting sword skill, leaving only the Nine and Ten of the suits left, although the Diamonds suit lacked their Ten, not that either warrior was complaining.

From there it was simple work for Cronan to tank the damage and Vlinn to deal his own. The Card soldiers did not last long against the Oath Keepers and soon the open floor of the throne room was empty save for the leaders.

"Interesting," The Duke rumbled as he spun his axe absentmindedly. "Shall I teach them a lesson your majesty?" The King had yet to rise from his throne; he stroked his beard thoughtfully as he examined the two intruders.

"As you wish," He said, waving his hand dismissively. The Duke grinned and his gaze focused on Vlinn who smirked flippantly in return. The Duke wasted no time in bringing his axe to bear and charging at the red armored player, after bowing to the King the Ace drew his sword and shield and charged after the larger armored Duke.

Crystalyst snapped up to intercept the Duke's axe, the enemy in question snarled at the intrusion. Cronan answered with a glowing sword strike that sent the other heavily armored warrior staggering.

Upon seeing the Ace's intent Vlinn dropped into skill position and then raced for the enemy. To the Ace it seemed as if the warrior had appeared out of nowhere and he just brought his shield up in time to block the curved blade. Vlinn ducked below the inevitable retaliation and launched another cut toward the Ace's side.

On the other side of the room Cronan had dropped his sword and sent a fist into the Duke's armored gut, which sent him reeling while not providing much damage. The Duke roared in anger and swung his axe only to have Cronan intercept it with a green glowing boot.

The King of Hearts sat back in his padded throne, watching the battles with interest. He had expected his warriors to end the fight without too much trouble. However, both were being pressed back and with far too much ease. Perhaps he had underestimated the criminals, the King reached for his own black and red kite shield, he had a feeling he would be needing it.

Sky raced down the stone corridor, doors lined the wall on both sides but the guild leader ignored them. Thankfully there was a thick coating of dust and even with her low levelled Tracking skill, Sky could make out the Queen's foot prints. The woman could see that the Queen had ignored the doors along the walls, moving with purpose toward the end of the corridor.

A large, single door marked the end of the hallway and the Queen's footprints disappeared behind the solid wooden portal. The door was open just a crack, light spilled into the hallway, illuminating just the entryway of the room that the door protected. The guild-leader paused at the door and took a slow breath before giving it a slight push.

It opened silently on well-oiled hinges; Sky squinted as light enveloped her. The room was almost as large as the throne room but it was devoid of furniture, leaving just an open space. It reminded the woman of a dance hall as she stepped onto the polished hardwood floor. Several massive chandeliers hung from the ceiling, providing more light than was probably necessary. Large windows acted as the walls of the north side of the room, through the clouded, darkening sky, the guild-leader thought she could see the tops of the mountain range that acted as the barrier of Wonderland.

The Queen of Hearts stood on the opposite side of the room, waiting for her opponent to finish admiring the room.

"My training room," The Queen informed Sky, drawing the young woman's attention. "I insist that we, as royalty of Wonderland, be perfect in every aspect of our lives, naturally that includes battle." Sky's only response was to glare at the woman and bring Yama into a defensive position. The Queen continued on as if Sky had not moved. "I have always seen a duel as more of a dance between two fighters. The elegance of battle is lost on many, but I can tell that is not true with you."

"You talk a lot for an NPC," Sky muttered to herself. The Queen turned to face the large windows as the dark clouds began rumbling. She reached around her back, grabbed the top lace of her dress and slid it out of its knot.

"I have fought long and hard to keep this country as pure as I could," The Queen said, not bothering to look at the opposing swordswoman. The Queen's dress slid off of her body and Sky had to fight to not glance away. Beneath the clothing the Queen bore fitted light-metal armor, small enough to be worn under the dress. "And now that girl has come to bring everything I worked for crumbling down and then there is you, trying to save her."

"For the love of the System can we just fight already?" Sky snapped, gripping the hilt of her weapon tightly. Of course NPC's were programmed to continue with their scripts and they would not continue to the next action until prompted through the script. Sky could just attack her now but then if she killed her chances are the quest wouldn't complete and she would have to wait for the Queen to re-spawn.

 _Patience_ _Sky_ , the woman thought to herself as the Queen continued her no doubt well written lines. The younger woman noticed the silence in the room as she finally came out of her contemplations; the Queen was staring out the glass wall, a sad look gracing her features.

"I will preserve my kingdom," She said quietly, grasping the hilt of a sword Sky hadn't noticed before. It was a two-handed straight sword, almost as tall as the Queen but the blade was thinner than a classic greatsword. The blade was black and the edges shone crimson, the cross-guard was of course heart shaped while the pommel was carved in the likeness of a rose protected by two thorn vines wrapping around it in a double helix pattern. "Come, let us dance."

Sky only had a second to bring Yama up to guard the older woman's powerful thrust, the force that followed the blow was enough to send the swordswoman into a backward tumble. Sky came to her feet, instantly snapping her sword up into a guard, the Queen's blade made contact with Yama once again sending the guild-leader sprawling.

The taller woman followed with another swing of her large sword, almost cutting through Sky had the swordswoman not been as nimble as she was. The guild-leader turned the violent throw into a controlled roll and as soon as her feet were under her she sprang into the air, tucking into a ball and somersaulting over the Queen.

As Sky's foot touched the wooden floor she whipped around, striking out with her katana. The Queen's sword flashed up, fast as lightning to catch the curved blade, Sky's eyes narrowed at the display of speed. She lashed out again and again but the two-handed sword was there to stop her at each movement.

The Queen struck back with a wide cutting diagonal slash, intent on slicing Sky in half. The guild-leader leapt back, narrowly avoiding the weapon, her throwing knives appeared in her hand and she sent them flying at the Queen. Sky smiled grimly as the Queen of Hearts three health bars sank slightly.

 _She's fast with that thing,_ Sky contemplated as she twirled one of her knives around her fingers, _better stay back._ The guild-leader slid her katana into its scabbard and loaded her hands with her projectile weapons.

The Queen was bombarded by the knives from every conceivable direction; the taller woman was fast with her blade but not fast enough to block the barrage of projectiles that Sky was producing. The guild-leader never stopped moving as she tried her best to exploit the angles that the Queen would have trouble positioning her blade in.

For the next few minutes the room was filled with a flurry of knives, the scarce sound of metal bouncing off of metal and the occasional grunt of pain from the Queen.

Unfortunately Sky only ever kept a very light supply of the knives equipped and their days in Wonderland had been fairly hard on her reserves. The Queen had just slipped down to her second bar of health when Sky came to her last knife. She twirled the object between her fingers and bit her lip, she might as well keep it, if she threw it and it hit it would not do too much damage and there was always the chance that the Queen would block it.

Sighing, the guild-leader slid the weapon into an empty sheath and drew her katana again. The Queen had not waited for the woman to make a decision and as Sky returned her focus on her enemy she found a greatsword being swung at her head.

Sky yelped and ducked under the blade, losing some hair for her effort. Instead of retreating the swordswoman opted to attack before the Queen could guard. Sky adopted a long, forward stance and held her blade low and to the side, the hand closest to her hand-guard held the hilt in a reverse grip while the lower hand held it normally.

The Queen had recovered control over her large sword and brought above her head, ready to plunge it straight into Sky. Before she could move the guild-leaders katana flashed yellow and Sky's body slipped into motion. Yama arced upward as Sky twisted her body, adding force to the blow; Ukifune was a one-hit skill with low attack power, however it knocked an opponent into the air, leaving them vulnerable there and when they hit the ground. Not that Sky had any plans of letting the Queen touch the hardwood floors without some kind of punishment first.

The Queen cried out as she was thrown upward and Sky dropped into a crouch and brought her blade across so it rested on the opposite shoulder as her arms were crossed in an X over her chest.

The swordswoman grit her teeth together as her katana shone blinding white, she never thought she would get to use this skill considering how specific the requirements were. It was not that the requirements were hard to fulfill, it was just that the location one had to be in just was not practical for the skill. It required a ceiling low enough for the character to be able to reach with their agility.

Sky's agility stat was one of the higher ones in the game, she could reach the roof of pretty much any labyrinth, however the skill was a one-hit with a very long post-motion delay. This meant whether she hit or not, afterward she would be a sitting duck which was not ideal when in a dungeon with multiple enemies. With one that was helpless in the air on the other hand…

The guild-leader exploded upward as she released the skill, she somersaulted and landed feet first on the ceiling. There was a second delay before the swordswoman burst toward her target, sword arm held over her shoulder, blade trailing white.

"Nagareboshi," She hissed to herself as Yama carved a red scar down the Queen's torso. The blade's light dissipated as Sky hit the floor, ending the skill on one knee and breathing heavily. The skill hit for a lot of damage and as if to compensate the System forced her stamina to almost nothing after using it.

She heard a thud behind her as the Queen hit the stone floor, Sky grit her teeth together, willing the cool-down to wear off quicker. The Queen would not be moving any time soon after the combination of sword skills and hopefully Sky would have ample time to recover and then plan her next move.

Those hopes were dashed ruthlessly when she heard the scraping of steel on stone and the groan of somebody forcing their body to move.

 _Oh damn it all._

Cronan brought Crystalyst down, hard, on the shield, pressing their enemy back and giving Vlinn the space he needed to slip into sword skill position. Enrapture glowed orange as Vlinn drew the blade behind his back and as he released the skill the warrior seemingly disappeared only to reappear in front of the King.

Enrapture flashed upward diagonally from right to left, tracing a red line along the King's armor. Vlinn cursed and ducked under the NPC's red and black sword, the next blow he blocked, letting the steel slide over his curved blade.

The warrior was saved from having to defend himself further by Cronan's well-timed intervention. A glowing boot smashed into the King's shield forcing him back a few steps.

"His defense is insane," Cronan commented and brought his sword up to take their enemy's counter attack. He grunted as he withstood the surprising amount of force behind the blow. "His attack isn't half bad either."

"Maybe if you ask him nicely he'll take you out to dinner," Vlinn seethed, already moving into another skill position, not that it would help. The warrior took off again, scoring another hit that did very little damage and then retreating behind his more heavily armored companion. "This is annoying."

"Any ideas," The taller warrior grunted as he swung his blade at the King, the weapon rang as it collided with the large kite shield. Vlinn remained silent as he stared at the King's health and watched as it declined slightly.

"I might," The red armored warrior replied readying his blade for another skill. "Switch!" Cronan pushed the enemy away with a mighty swing of his sword and then jumped back just as Vlinn released and zoomed past him. The curved blade drew a line across the King's chest as Vlinn flew past him, at a safer distance the warrior spun around, eyes immediately leaping to the mini-bosses health bar. "As I thought…"

Cronan had approached the King as soon as Vlinn had dashed away but now the shorter warrior waved him away as he approached their enemy slowly. Cronan raised an eyebrow at his comrade as he took position in front of their enemy.

"I can't deal any damage through his armor and shield," The player said to Cronan even as the King of Hearts swung his long-sword. Vlinn flicked Enrapture up parrying the larger weapon aside. "If you can get a clean hit in it'll cripple him." He ducked beneath the next blow and lashed out only to have his blade deflected by the kite shield.

"And if you get hit you'll die, switch with me," Cronan responded, already moving toward the fight. He rushed when he saw his guild-mate stumble beneath the weight of a hit delivered by the King's shield. The hit was followed closely by a sword and the King roared out in assumed victory even as Vlinn was regaining his balance.

Cronan cursed and attempted in vain to reach them in time, he saw Vlinn's hand slip to his belt and then the Kings large sword flashed in his vision. Cronan breathed easier when the sword hit the cobblestone floor after Vlinn has slipped under it. Enrapture flashed across the King's armor and Cronan watched as their enemy's health only dropped slightly.

"I'll be your forward," Cronan heard Vlinn say, his voice slightly distorted from Siraya's mask that he had slipped on. " _I'll_ protect _you_ for once, so just trust me."

"How can I not," The warrior-smith replied with a grin. Vlinn smiled under his mask, even as Enrapture leapt up to divert another blow from the King.

"Then let's start getting the timing down."

Sky grunted as her body hit the wall and then dropped to the ground in a slump. She heard the click of boots on stone as the Queen approached her prone body; Sky tried flexing her hand again and cursed internally as it still would not move. The delay from her sword skill had yet to wear off and the Queen had become more aggressive with the loss of two of her health bars.

"You tried," The older woman said. Her face was twisted into a snarl and her eyes burned with hatred. "And yet you could not defeat my justice." Sky attempted again to move her hand and her heart jumped as her pinky twitched.

 _That's right keep talking_ , she silently urged as she attempted to clench her hand. The movement was still beyond her but with each attempt she regained more and more control. Finally her hand grasped Yama's hilt and the player pushed herself up into a kneeling position as her hand had a firm reverse grip on her sword.

"Have you any last words criminal?" The Queen asked, glaring down at her prey with unhidden contempt.

"Die," Sky spat as her yellow glowing sword swiped up. The sneak attack caught the NPC off guard and a deep red line appeared on the Queen's torso. Before the Queen could regain her composure Sky leapt back and then used the wall behind her to spring over the NPC, giving her more room to maneuver.

The Queen spun to face her, bringing her guard up, she glared at the swordswoman only to find the shorter woman glaring back. She had put up with enough of the Queen's crap as it was _before_ the beating she had received during her brief paralysis. In fact she had put up with enough crap from this floor in general and she had, had _enough_.

The swordswoman brought her blade into skill position not bothering to wait for her opponent. The katana whirled around the Queen like a steel whirlwind as the woman danced her deadly dance, slowly the NPC's health began to whittle away as Sky's attacks slipped past her guard.

Sky's confidence grew as her enemies final health bar slipped into the red zone; the Mist Dancer grinned and continued her relentless stream of skills and attacks. The Queen screamed in outrage as her overly large blade glowed a brilliant shade of green. The blade swept up from right to left catching Sky just as she leapt away from the attack. The swordswoman was sent soaring backwards as the Queen finished the spinning sword skill.

The guild-leader re-oriented herself just in time to see the rose-shaped pommel on the Queen's sword disappear, as it did the NPC's health rose dramatically, almost regaining a full bar. Sky's jaw dropped and she felt her emotions building up, pushing up from her stomach and filling her with heat. She did not feel hopelessness or surprise in any amount; the swordswoman was filled with rage and indignity. She was over this world, over this adventure and over this damn enemy.

The Queen did not move as she basked in the healing light that still lingered around her, the stillness gave Sky a moment to survey her surroundings again. The Queen was positioned a few meters away from the large windows; _I bet that's a long way down._ It was a gamble, considering the Systems rules about the environment but at the moment Sky felt like risking it.

Before she could move however, the healing light disappeared abruptly only to be replaced with a slowly glowing blot of blackness. Slowly the black "light" enveloped the Queen of Hearts and tendrils of darkness emerged from her body, snaking around her and reaching hungrily toward the player. Sky froze as the darkness continued to grow and she felt the cold chill of ice coursing through her veins.

The blackness seemed to penetrate her mind and began to drag out a primal sort of fear that she had not felt in a very long time. Despair emanated from the small player and hope seemed to be nothing but a fond memory as the coils of shadows continued to slither toward her.

Any average player would have probably stayed glued to the spot and then would have eventually been taken and killed by the Queen. But Sky was no ordinary player, she was the leader of the Oath Keepers, she was one of the most accomplished light-armored forwards in SAO and she would _not_ succumb to an NPC!

Sky growled away the darkness in her head and she clenched Yama's hilt, the heavy steel under her grip filled her with warm confidence. The swordswoman climbed to her feet and glared at her enemy, willing the last of the darkness to leave her body.

She flicked her last throwing knife into her hand and sized up her targets, making small calculations in her head. Finally she focused on her target and let the skill and targeting systems do their jobs. The glowing knife flashed out of her hand and the swordswoman grinned knowing the shot was good. The knife grazed her enemy's cheek slightly, not even enough to shave off one hit point, the projectile embedded itself in the window, creating a spider web of cracks.

The NPC ignored the apparent failed attack and readied her weapon for another attack but Sky was already on the move, blade glowing. Yama arced down, drawing a line across the Queen, Sky flicked her wrist sending her blade flashing left and right, painting her enemy red and pushing her back. As the skill ended Sky threw herself into a roll, dodging the descending blade, the Queen turned to find another sword skill already thrusting at her. The NPC sidestepped and brought her blade up to block the next hit.

Slowly the Queen was forced back from the heavy fury of the swordswoman, Sky made each stroke of her blade count, always planning her next move, carefully corralling her enemy. The Queen froze when her back touched the pommel of the knife and Sky's eyes flashed dangerously. Rather than wait for her attacker the NPC swung her greatsword in a glowing arc at the smirking player.

Sky already had her glowing blade in place, Yama lashed out and under the opposing blade. Sky spun into her sword arm helping her katana push the sword harmlessly over her while also positioning herself closer to her enemy. The two hit skill ended with Sky bashing the Queen in her chest plate with the butt of Yama. Shoved backwards the NPC smashed into the knife finally shattering the window.

The Queen of Hearts stood dangerously on the precipice, attempting to keep her balance, then watched in horror as Sky leapt high in the air, katana glowing crimson. As the guild-leader descended she pirouetted, adding force to her blow. Her foot touched the floor and the player unleashed a glowing slash horizontally in a complete circle around her. The skill Tsumujiguruma, allowed katana users to send a long range slash at enemies in a three hundred and sixty degree circle, though this move too had a long post-motion delay as well. However, for Sky it was already-

"Checkmate," The light slammed into the still reeling Queen and sent her toppling over the edge. The guild-leader could not move to watch but the abrupt end to the screaming followed by the data fragments floating into the sky was enough proof for her (as was the loot screen). "Fall damage has no preferences it seems." The swordswoman moved to return to the throne room to assist her friends…only to be reminded that she was still frozen.

"Oh damn it all!"

The masked warrior ducked beneath the King's blade, the NPC began to turn toward the taller warrior behind him only to be reminded of the red armored player to the front in the form of two strikes hitting his unguarded torso. The King cried out in rage and spun back to face the minor annoyance in front of him.

"That's right you royal bastard, eyes front," Vlinn parried aside the heavy sword and then leapt back, making room for Cronan as the warrior-smith swung his massive sword in an arc uninterrupted. The King turned in time to barely get his sword into a defensive position; it did nothing to stop him from being flung back. It did not take long for the NPC to recover and push himself up with his free hand (his shield having been broken by Cronan minutes prior) and he jerked his head to the side just as Vlinn's blade would have sheared through his throat. Instead the warrior had to make due with a scratch along the King's cheek.

 _So close!_ Vlinn spun about and brought his blade up to guard the expected attack but Cronan had beaten him to it. A glowing boot connected with the King's jaw, sending him sprawling once again. Vlinn nodded his thanks to the taller warrior and then slipped into position, unleashing a charging skill just as the King was picking himself up.

The enemy's throat was exposed and there was no way for him to bring his guard up in time.

 _Yes, yes!_ Enrapture arced toward the King's exposed neck, like a jungle cat leaping for the killing blow. The curved blade's flight was ended with the ringing of steel on steel as the King of Hearts free hand shot up to catch the blade. Vlinn's eyes widened in horror as he watched the NPC's health points leap up and regain an entire bar.

The King of Hearts kept an iron grip on the blade as he dug the tip of his own weapon into the floor and rose. His eyes sparkled dangerously and as he held himself up to his full height Vlinn became very aware of the dark green aura emanating from him, permeating deep within the red armored player's conscious. The aura fed off of him, stealing his life, his energy, it filled him with absolute terror and as the armored NPC took a step toward him he could feel the green energy pushing him back.

He wanted more than anything to run, to get away from the approaching monster, but even as the aura pushed him away it also held him in place, crushing him beneath its pressure. The King's sword was poised above him, ready to fall and end the player's life and Vlinn was helpless to do anything to stop it.

Before the blade could fall Crystalyst crashed into the NPC's side, sending him tumbling away from the kneeling player. Vlinn felt Enrapture be ripped from his grasp but that was a problem to deal with later. As soon as the aura was clear of him the player sucked in a gulp of air, finally realizing he had not taken a breath during that entire encounter.

"What the hell was that?" Cronan asked as he extended a hand toward his comrade. Vlinn grasped the gauntlet and let himself be pulled onto his feet.

"Terrifying, that's what that was." Cronan glanced down at his friend with an eyebrow raised; it was somewhat amusing to hear fear in a voice that was covered by a demon's face.

 _Amusing in a rather sadistic sense of the word_ , the warrior amended.

"Before we can do anything, we're going to need to get your sword back." The warrior-smith pointed out, gesturing at the now approaching King. Vlinn nodded and scanned the cobblestone floor for his hanger sword.

"Got it," Vlinn called as hunched down into a sprinting position. He could clearly see the green-black aura surrounding their enemy but the effects seemed to diminish with distance. The warrior breathed in deeply, _I can do this._

With a roar Cronan charged at the King, dropping his greatsword in favor of his much faster striking fists. The NPC moved to swing his blade into Cronan's side but the smith's arm darted up, catching his enemy's forearm with his own. Vlinn took off, racing for his sword as Cronan stepped further into his opponents guard and launched a glowing fist into his gut.

The heavy armor that the King bore dulled the blow greatly but the force behind sent him rocking back on his heels.

There was no stopping for the red armored warrior as he closed in on his weapon, so he dropped to the ground in a slide and grasped Enrapture's hilt as he glided past. He shoved off the ground with his free hand and spun gracefully to his feet, dropping into a sword skill form as he regained his balance.

Cronan saw Vlinn from the corner of his eye and nodded; hoping his comrade saw the movement the warrior-smith brought both arms up to block his enemy's attack. The sword bounced off of Cronan's heavy gauntlets, leaving a loud ringing in the air. Cronan ignored his health as it lowered even further into the red zone. Stepping forward, the heavily armored launched an uppercut into the King's armor, stunning him long enough for Cronan to step back and drop into form.

The warrior snapped a kick straight into the King's jaw, forcing his enemy's head back and paralyzing him further. Cronan leapt back as his targeting system caught sight of a red blur honing in on the dazed King.

Vlinn had released Fell Crescent as soon as his comrade's kick had landed, the skill allowed him to cross a distance of four meters in a quarter of a second, making it one of his favorite and most used sword skill. The skill system guided Vlinn's body along the floor of the throne room at a speed faster than a lot of targeting systems could detect.

Again their enemy's throat was bared to him, Cronan had presented him with plenty of opportunities just like this and he had failed again and again. But this time…

 _This time you die!_

The warriors red demon eyes blazed brightly as Enrapture met the resistance of flesh, bone and muscle. Many weapons cannot actually shear through bone unless the player's Strength stat was fairly high but Cronan had forged the curved blade and in the right hands the razor sharp hanger sword could cut through metal. Unfortunately it was in Vlinn's hands but his current momentum more than made up for the strength required.

The warrior put the brakes on as soon as the curved blade cut through the King's neck and as Vlinn finally slid to a stop he kept his blade in position not daring to move until he heard the chiming of data fragments, the ring of the loot screen and the victory cry from his well armored friend.

Vlinn felt the air be forced from his lungs as Cronan picked him up in a one armed hug.

"Nice one!" The warrior-smith crowed, all Vlinn could do to answer was grunt and struggle against the iron-like arm. Moments later another loot screen sprang to life in front of them, in the item section The Queen of Hearts sat; the warriors grinned at each other even as they heard a cry of happiness behind them.

Alice rushed to meet her two apparent saviors, smiling widely and rubbing away newly made tears.

"Thank you," She squeaked as she came to a stop in front of them. "I thought that was the end, I was so scared- but you saved me! I can finally go home!"

"All in a day's work," Vlinn replied after he removed his mask. "Have a safe journey home."

"Oh she will," Replied an unfortunately familiar voice. The Cheshire cat appeared on the girls shoulder. "If you want to go home all you have to do is go through that door." He pointed at a section of stone wall which was very clearly wall and very clearly _not_ a door.

"But," Alice scrunched up her nose in concentration as she stared at the section of stone. "There is no- Oh!" The young girl gave a small cry as a door slid down from the ceiling and fixed itself to the wall.

"What was that?" The cat smiled and cocked his to the side. Alice carefully approached the door and reached out to grasp the door handle only to have it yell at her reproachfully.

"Do you have a key?" The brass handle demanded, Alice blinked and patted down the few pockets she had on her dress.

"Of course the door knob talks," Cronan muttered to his comrade.

"Um, well I-"

"Of course you do dear," The cat insisted, gesturing to her breast pocket. Slowly the little girl slid an iron skeleton key from the pocket and presented it uncertainly to the door.

"Well go on," The knob chuckled kindly and opened its keyhole (Vlinn cringed at what that implication could mean). With a turn of the key the great door swung open silently, presenting all assembled with a pleasant image of a tree on top of a pleasant, sunny knoll. Alice took a step toward the portal and then paused, spun around and waved one last time to her saviors before rushing through the door home.

"I'm a little envious," Vlinn muttered to Cronan. "A simple quest and she gets a door that goes straight home and what do we get? A door straight back to hell." Surprisingly his comrade snorted in amusement.

"That quest was _anything_ but simple," He replied, grinning playfully at his friend. Vlinn returned with his own grin and a sigh of relief at the apparent end of the dangerous ordeal.

"What do you suppose that green thing was with the King?" Vlinn asked, his hand unconsciously gripped his weapons hilt at the memory.

"You do not need to worry about that just yet," A voice whispered into his ear. Before Vlinn could turn to confront the cat he felt something brush his head and then all he knew was darkness.

Cronan cried out as Vlinn's eyes rolled back into his head and he dropped like a stone. Before Cronan could move he too felt something touch him briefly and then he joined his comrade on the cold stone.

The Cheshire cat perched himself on top of Cronan's back and stared at the two players curiously much as he had done with Sky a few minutes prior.

"I must admit," He mused, more as Honbo than as the cat. "I was not sure you would actually make it through and yet you surprised me. And they are not even the strongest of players, perhaps Kayaba got more than he bargained for. I can't wait to watch the insanity you sow in the over world." Slowly the Cheshire cat faded from view.

Leaving only his wide grin to float in the air, briefly.

Sky's eyes slowly slid open as she felt herself being jostled slightly and she wondered for a moment if she was not on the pony that they had found along the roads to the Castle of Hearts. On either side of her peripherals the guild leader could see huge trees slowly passing by. Underneath her she watched as the dirt path rolled by seemingly like the belt on a treadmill, her view of the ground was intermittently blocked by a pair of purple clad legs.

"Oi, I think she finally came around," A familiar voice said, rather loudly she thought.

"Thank the System," Replied a voice just above her. "I really didn't want to have to carry her all the way home." Before she knew it Sky was sent tumbling unceremoniously to the ground, she yelped as she hit the ground and decided it would be better to simply lay there for a minute before cracking her eyes open once again.

Her two guild-mates crowded her vision; both grinned mischievously down at her.

"Morning sunshine!" Vlinn said, again unnecessarily loud.

"It's about time you woke up," Cronan held a hand out to help her up, which she took gratefully.

"Where are we?" Sky mumbled, still fuzzy headed. She glanced around at the familiar trees and path, to the side looked like the gnarled tree that the Ragout rabbit had led them too.

"Home," Cronan answered simply.


	36. So, What Did We Miss?

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _So, What Did We Miss?_**

 ** _November 1_** ** _st_** ** _, 2024 12:31 pm_**

The woman brought her hammer down on the metal one final time and as the items touched white light erupted from the anvil she was working at. Work was good for her, kept her busy, kept her distracted and best of all it made her Col. She was not exactly rolling in it but she made enough to buy food, crafting supplies and pay her rent.

Lisbeth picked up the one-handed straight sword she had just crafted. After one glance she tossed it aside with a noise of disgust. Ever since that black coat wearing _jerk_ had strolled into her life she had not been able to forge anything even remotely close to the sword she had made him, for _free_ she might add.

The woman blew out a frustrated sigh and let herself fall back against the wall of her work shop. She was in a block, there, she admitted it and that was the first step or so she had been told. Nothing she made satisfied her anymore since her master piece; the Dark Repulser, sure she had made Crystalyst; she had thought that Cronan's blade had been what would break her out of her slump. But she was wrong, nothing compared to the Dark Repulser. Oh that sword, it was powerful, beautiful and she was confident its wielder would clear the game with her weapon in hand.

But that was the problem, she had hit her peak, she was only seventeen damn it! Everything she made seemed like junk now, she fulfilled orders but there was no heart to her works. It was hard to put emotion into crafting when everything you made just disappointed you. Liz glanced down at the sword she had tossed aside, another few seconds and it would be destroyed.

The chiming of the blade synchronized with the bell attached to her shop's door, a customer. The smith took a minute to straighten her skirt and take a deep breath before putting on her retail face and heading for the door that lead into her store proper. A young man was looking hungrily at a straight sword in a display case. The player wore armor that would have been appropriate for the floor that her shop resided in but had he attempted the front lines the monsters would have sheared through his raiment like nothing.

"Hello," Lisbeth said cheerily. "Welcome to Lisbeth's Smith Shop, can I help you with anything?" The player turned to her and smiled.

"I was hoping I could order a custom sword," He replied. "I just ranked up within my guild and I kind of wanted to treat myself." The smith ran her eyes up and down the player's, Min'dein's, armor again.

 _He can't afford it_ , she thought, already dismissing the transaction before it had even begun.

"Well there's a price list to the right of the counter," Liz gestured at the sign as she spoke. "Custom orders are expensive, each one is different depending on the type of weapon, materials, stats and engravings and decoration. But I can tell you they all run in the hundreds of thousands price-wise." Min'dein's eyes widened briefly before dropping to the floor in defeat.

"I…I see," He muttered sadly, Liz repressed the urge to sigh; perhaps she had been a bit too harsh.

"Take a look around, a lot of people come here for custom weapons but most leave with my normal stock and I haven't gotten a complaint yet." She forced herself to smile, for his sake. "Discount weapons are in the barrels, they're unadorned and not upgraded but they are still quality weapons. Weapons on the racks go for NPC sale price, half upgraded and everything in a display case is fully upgraded and slightly adorned."

"Thank you," The player said, still sounding downcast as he moved immediately to the discount weapons. Lisbeth moved behind the counter and leaned against it, watching the player rummage through barrel. The woman flicked open her menu and started scrolling through the ingots and ores she still had, she had finished her orders for the next few days and her stock did not need replenishing.

She could always take a vacation she supposed, idly scrolling until the cursor fell on Living Crystal the strange ore she and Cronan had found on the twenty seventh floor. She still had enough to make…something. But what, a weapon, a shield, a paper weight? Could she even make a paper weight? Was that a thing?

The pink-haired player tapped her chin pensively as she considered whether there would be a market for such an item, probably not considering any paperwork that had to be done was taken care of in the menu. But still, a paper weight made a desk look official, oh and she could decorate them with flowers or butterflies or something, that would be fun.

Her attention was dragged back to the player as he sighed (rather loudly in her opinion) after apparently not finding anything he liked. His shoulders slumped and he walked toward the door, hand already reaching for the doorknob. She was not sure what came over her at that moment but Lisbeth called out to him.

"Wait a second," She sighed. Min'dein turned to the blacksmith curiously a small sparkle of hope in his eye, honestly who was she to crush some guy's dreams? Hell she made her masterpiece for free maybe she could give this guy a break. "Maybe we can work out a payment plan." It was, she admitted to herself, rather refreshing to see the light of hope spark back in the young man's eyes, she offered a small smile.

"I can do that," He replied excitedly. "I'll always pay on time I promise."

"You had better," She replied darkly, eyeing him threateningly. After a few minutes of discussing the specifics of the weapons (a one-handed straight sword with stats focused on durability) they worked out the payments he could handle, which was more than Liz had first thought. After shaking hands the man had materialized a heavy bag of Col as down payment along with a handful of large purple feathers.

"Consider it a bonus for helping me," The player smiled at her confused look. "I got these from the boss of a bonus dungeon, a Diatryma and after having it appraised the guy said it could be used for smithing."

"Feathers for smithing," The smith eyed the items in question suspiciously but took them nonetheless. She did not bother to look up as the player left, instead she concentrated on the purple feathers next to a materialized living crystal, she compared the colors (which were eerily similar) and contemplated a small project.

A small vision of the item began to form in her head and a small smile played at her lips. Maybe her smithing block was not as bad as she had thought. The doorbell chimed as another player entered.

"Hello and welcome to Lisbeth's Smith Shop can I help you find anything?"

"A drink would be nice," Replied a familiar voice. Liz's eyes darted up to find a familiar figure in purple, pulsing armor. "Or maybe a sandwich."

"Where the hell have you been?" The blacksmith snapped at her snarky friend. Cronan returned her irritated expression with a smile.

"Pull up a chair, it's a hell of a story."

The red armored player sipped lightly at the steamy porcelain cup in his hand and gave an appreciative sigh.

"Wonderful as always Kawahara," Vlinn smiled, damn if he did not love tea. The tea shop in Lindas, To a Tea, was one of the few player owned cafés that catered different types of tea. Player made food items tasted far better than anything spawned by an NPC, tea was no exception and Kawahara just happened to make the best tea.

"Glad you think so," The middle aged Japanese man said with a smile. "You know we missed you around here, you were almost gone for a month, were you on the front lines?"

"More like a vacation," The warrior replied, taking an inconspicuous sip of his tea (mint if you must know).

"Did you enjoy yourself," The shop owner asked amiably. That was one reason his business did so well, Kawahara was just a very nice gentlemen, there were few people who left his shop with a sour expression (unless they ordered a very bitter tea).

"Not even a little," Vlinn replied cheerily, raising his cup in a mock salute to the now confused player. Around him small groups of players chatted happily while several female players in maid uniforms skittered around taking and delivering orders. Soft music filled small building, courtesy of a bard and her harp; she threw a friendly wink his way as his gaze passed over her. He returned it with a friendly wave, long ago the bard, Chetalia had contracted the guild to collect materials for the beautiful harp that now sat in her lap.

The majority of the patrons were British players as it was tea time and you would be damned if you stopped a Brit from partaking. In fact, Vlinn was certain that every single British player was shoved into the café, which was actually somewhat depressing considering that they should have numbered in the thousands not twelve. Now that he thought about how many North American players still survived? The player was yanked away from the depressing train of thought as one of the maids placed a small cake in front of him and refilled his tea cup.

"Thank you, Celia," The Oath Keeper smiled and the player bowed quickly before scurrying off to the next customer. Today was turning out to be a decent day, the warrior mused as he glanced around the café.

The door was thrown open violently, stopping the majority of conversations as several armed and armored players strode into the shop with a haughty aura of confidence. They each bore the regalia of The Army and they marched through the shop laughing and speaking at an obnoxious volume.

 _Well there goes my good mood,_ Vlinn grimaced and took a sip of tea. One of the players, a higher up judging by the slight variation of his armor spotted the Oath Keeper and sent him a smug grin. _Oh fantastic._

The group made their way to Kawahara, who was unfortunately close to Vlinn.

"Pardon us, _sir_ ," The apparent leader sounded anything but respectful as he addressed the older man. "But do you serve anything besides piss-water?" The group leaned over the counter and one brushed roughly against Vlinn, sending his tea cup crashing to the floor. The warrior watched in horror as his drink shattered into thousands of data fragments.

" _Oops_ ," The Army member chuckled, Vlinn felt an eye twitch and the eyes of his mask, which hung on his belt, seemed to burn for a moment.

 _Oh hell no._

Sky slipped into a hard wooden chair, one of the many that surrounded the huge circular table that dominated the otherwise barren stone chamber. Her eyes, which had dark circles underneath, never left her menu screen as she filed through different messages, notifications and other various forms of paperwork. Most of them were requests for the Oath Keepers, since their return from _Hell_ -

Wonderland, she corrected herself gently, her inbox had become flooded with messages that could not be delivered previously.

The woman ran a hand over her face and blew out a heavy sigh, she had been rifling through them since early that morning and she still hadn't caught up. Most of the players that had sent the requests had found other groups or players to work for them which meant no income for them, which meant they would have to dip into their savings to make the payments on their house and supplies. Sky grimaced as she deleted another angry message; _sorry I was busy trying not to die!_

A familiar chuckle to the side snatched Sky's attention away from her paperwork. Heathcliff offered a small wave to the leader of the Oath Keepers as he approached, Sky glanced away momentarily to view the rest of the room, players had either seated themselves at the table or stood around the room in small groups chatting.

"Hello Sky," Heathcliff smiled. "You look like…"

"Shit?" The swordswoman supplied.

"I wasn't going to say that," The Paladin defended himself, offering a peaceful wave. "If you do not mind my asking, where have you and your guild been this past month? I've received quite a few complaints from other guild leaders."

"Glad to know we're in such high demand," Sky replied and flicked her index finger, sending her floating menu to the imposing player. He grimaced at the ungodly amount of messages and sent the window back with a wave of his hand.

"I guess you don't need me to tell you," He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, briefly looking like a normal player and not the indomitable leader of the KoB.

"So why the meeting of leaders," Sky asked, indicating the guild leaders that populated the room. The more human side of the male player was pushed aside and the Paladin stood in front of her again.

"We have reports that we may have found the boss room."

"May have?" Sky arched an eyebrow at the man.

"Our scouts haven't come back." A frown spread across his strong features. "You'll get the full details once the meeting starts. So where were you-" Heathcliff was cut short as the door to the chamber was kicked open.

Much to the swordswoman's chagrin Kibaou strode in with two soldiers flanking him. Heathcliff's eyes narrowed and Sky had to force herself to keep her hand away from Yama.

"I was very clear that soldiers were to be left outside," The Paladin said lowly.

"Why is he here," Sky muttered. "I can't imagine Thinker missing a meeting…or sending him."

"Something is definitely wrong," Heathcliff frowned, Sky narrowed her eyes at the spiky-haired bastard, something was indeed wrong.


	37. Give Us An Excuse

**_A/N: I still don't own anything except my ideas and original characters_**

 ** _Give Us an Excuse_**

 ** _November 6_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 8:22 pm_**

The streets of Taft were quiet, so silent that the party's boots caused echoes to resound through the streets. Not completely silent, the shortest member of the group amended, she turned a distasteful gaze toward the several inns that occupied various spots on the main street. The doors to all of them were wide open and light, music and laughter spilled out into the street.

Two years trapped in this place and this was how they chose to remember what they had lost?

"Some people just need to forget." Vlinn had told her and a small part of her agreed but that people would turn today into a holiday just seemed foolish. But perhaps forgetting was better than dwelling; the swordswoman scowled and dropped her gaze to the cobblestones beneath her feet. Her companions remained silent though she caught Vlinn stealing a glance at one of the inns as they passed. Cronan meanwhile kept his eyes trained on the ground, clearly lost in his own musings.

She could not blame him; she still had yet to wrap her head around everything that had happened while they were away. But when Yulier, the silver-haired whip-user had appeared at their front door two nights ago, without Thinker at her side, Sky had immediately been put on edge.

Yulier informed them of the schism that had occurred within the army, led of course by Kibaou. He had locked Thinker in a secret dungeon beneath the Black Iron Palace and trapped him with an ungodly powerful boss.

"Why?" Cronan had asked, eyes fixed on the woman before them.

"He was thinking of discharging Kibaou," She answered. "Kibaou sent a squad of men to attempt to take down the seventy fourth floor's boss after Thinker specifically forbade it."

"They didn't come back did they?" Sky asked quietly, she stared intently at Yulier as her shoulders slumped and she shook her head slowly.

"Kibaou thought that a show of force would remind all of the players that we were still a guild to be reckoned with." The silver-haired woman eyed the mug of tea that Sky had given her when she had first sat down. "Thinker told him we didn't have the strength but Kibaou was never one to listen to anyone but himself. When we lost almost the entire party…I have never seen Thinker that angry. The guild was already split between players who supported Thinker and those who were with Kibaou and then Kibaou trapped him…and that started the fighting."

Sky looked into the woman's eyes and saw pain and fear in her grey orbs. Cronan's fingers drummed absent mindedly on the arm of his chair as he processed the information. Vlinn's eyes were narrowed and were glaring at something far off; Sky had a feeling if he were looking at anything right then it would have been Kibaou.

"After the initial fighting we retreated to a friendly guilds base and from there we found our own place to stay but Kibaou is not going to stop looking for us." She paused briefly before raising her chin to look at them with pleading eyes. "Please, we need your help." The room was silent for a moment as each Oath Keeper was lost in their own thoughts.

"I find it hard to believe that they can out power you," Cronan mused, scratching his chin. "Last I checked Thinker kept some skilled players near him, you included and if this is just an inner-guild dispute then it would be better for you publically to take care of this yourself." Yulier chewed her lip as her gaze fell to the floor.

"We lost a lot of strong players during the initial fight; Kibaou always liked power over honor." She steeled her gaze as she met the eyes of the three mercenaries. "And this doesn't just concern the Aincrad Liberation Force. Ever since Thinker was deposed Kibaou has more or less taken over the City of Beginnings. He taxes the civilian players, he takes advantage of them and he's even beginning a draft to bolster his force. If he takes those players they will _die!_ Thinker only asks that you come meet with us, _please_." The room was silent again as Yulier clenched her fists, trying to control her emotions with obvious effort. Never had the guild seen this woman look anything but refined and dignified and now she sat before them broken and defeated…and begging them for help.

There was only one obvious answer for the Oath Keepers.

Two days later they met up with what was left of Thinkers retinue. The tattered remains of the group had managed to purchase a fairly sizable home in Collinia, the main city of the seventy-fifth floor. The home was reminiscent of those often depicted in the movies about ancient Rome; large and marble with a large yard in the middle.

Thinker had materialized his map data of both the Black Iron Palace and the secret dungeon beneath and had spread both over a marble table. The Oath Keepers watched as he gestured to the points of entry.

"Our spies within their faction told us that Kibaou and his inner circle house themselves in the dungeon beneath, he's expecting a counter attack-"

"And so he's hidden himself away there." Cronan finished for him. "Why would he hide there, it's a dungeon, he can be freely attacked by players. If had stayed in the actual city he would have been safer."

"Assassins," Sky said, still scanning the map. "He has the dungeon mapped out, he knows where all the access points are, where the safe zones are and probably the mob spawning rates. If he was in the city a skilled enough player could slip into the Black Iron Palace and just end him in his sleep. Is that about right?" She eyed Thinker who nodded with a sad smile.

"That would be the gist of it," The ex-guild leader said. "I want you to act as the assault force on this. Sneak into the dungeon, find Kibaou and bring him into custody."

"I highly doubt he is going to come along quietly," Vlinn said dryly. Thinker locked eyes with the younger player; Vlinn arched an eyebrow in response.

"Accidents happen." Thinker said, slowly and deliberately. The red armored player's eyes narrowed, this man was very different from the Thinker that they were used to dealing with. Sky coughed lightly, gathering their attention.

"Provided we can even get into this dungeon un-noticed, which I would really like to hear the plan on that, where do we go from there, how do we know he's alone?"

"He isn't," A gruff voice answered. One of Thinkers lieutenants leaned against one of the pillars that lined the home. He bore oriental robes, his long black hair was pulled into a ponytail and a long, heavy katana was tucked into his sash-like belt. Muramasa pushed himself off of the pillar and stalked over to the map. "He will have his inner-most circle with him, his most skilled lieutenants."

"That's why I am also sending my sub-leaders with you," Thinker threw quick glances at Muramasa and Yulier; the latter of the two nodded with determined eyes.

"You still haven't told us how you expect us to get into the dungeon," Vlinn pointed out. "The entrance is _inside_ the Black Iron Palace, you know, the place crawling with Kibaou's men?"

"We're going to provide a distraction," The army leader responded with a slight twinkle in his eye. "And while we're keeping the bulk of the force busy you will slip in through a side entrance."

"Side entrance?" Sky glanced at the man curiously to which he smirked in response.

"I kept a lot about the palace to myself, not even Kibaou knows everything about it. I actually stumbled on a secret entrance when I was looking for Yulier one night." This elicited several raised eyebrows.

"Why were you looking for her at night?" Vlinn grinned widely and waggled his eyebrows. Two faces burned a deep red and then Thinker coughed awkwardly.

"Anyway, you will enter through the passage and from there make your way to the dungeons entrance. After that it is up to you, if we do not stop Kibaou he will continue to exploit and possible kill innocent players."

"Are you with us?" Yulier asked anxiously. The Oath Keepers glanced at each other but none moved to answer.

"If you are not with us you are against us," Muramasa rested a hand on his katana. "We cannot let you leave; you could easily go and tell Kibaou of our plans." Sky's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Is that a threat?" When the samurai did not answer the swordswoman snorted. "In case you forgot we're in a city, you can't attack us."

"You will have to travel out of the city limits eventually," The man answered.

"Enough Muramasa," Thinker said quietly. "They have never given me cause to believe that they would betray us. If they choose to ignore our pleas then there is nothing we can do." Vlinn watched the man's eyes as he spoke, never had he seen him so defeated.

He recognized those eyes; they were the same that he had during their first day when the death game had been announced. They were eyes that had become resigned to their fate. Vlinn shared a look between his comrades, they too shared grim looks.

"Please," Yulier said quietly. "I've seen what he lets his men do; they harass children as easily as they fight a monster. They take as they please, force women and men to do things that…they cannot be allowed to continue." The woman stared at the guild her eyes too had lost their spark, the slight twinkle in her eyes that let her fight.

Slowly Sky nodded her head before glancing at her guild-mates, Cronan offered a thumbs up and Vlinn smirked.

"We're in."

The small guild navigated their way through the empty streets of Taft that same night, intent on arming themselves with any information. So they found themselves in one of the sketchier side streets of Taft, outside of small store. Over the door hung a wooden depiction of a crescent moon, "Moon-Stop" was painted on the door.

The guild walked in without hesitation only to be greeted by clutter. Multiple items of various categories were strewn across shelves and tables with chaotic organization.

"Yo," Keith greeted from behind a glass counter. "You guys are out late."

"You're open late," Cronan countered.

"Fact."

"Shouldn't you be out celebrating too?" Vlinn probed as he browsed the shelves. The bearded player shrugged in response.

"So what do you need?" That was what the guild liked about their info broker; he was straight to the point.

"We need any information you have on the Black Iron Palace," Sky said as she leaned onto the counter. "Particularly secret entrances." The merchant nodded in thought and scratched at his beard.

"I might know something, but it's going to cost you a good amount." Before the man could speak further Sky materialized a heavy bag of Col and dropped it on the counter in front of Keith. "Alright, that works."

Cronan raised an eyebrow and Vlinn rolled his eyes, info brokers were _so_ easy.

"I only know of one that actually puts you into the palace, the entrance is in a fountain-"

"With an angel statue," Sky cut him off. "Yeah we know that one." Keith shrugged in response and pulled the bag of Col toward him.

"What about the dungeon beneath the palace?" Cronan said suddenly. "And no not the jail dungeon, the secret one."

"Ah," Keith said slowly. "Now that's a different story, I know one for that too but that will be an extra…" He trailed off as the players gave him incredulous looks. "What?"

"Seriously," Vlinn asked.

"Fine," The merchant grumbled in response. "There is a sewer grate next to the palace that you can enter; it's a shortcut straight to the waterways that lead to the secret dungeon. Give me your map and I'll show you." He gestured to Sky and the woman obliged. "Why do you need to go into that dungeon anyway?"

The Oath Keepers shared uncomfortable glances and kept silent.

"So it has to do with the army," Keith surmised. Upon receiving suspicious looks he said: "I know things," and then shrugged.

"Well," Sky said finally. "Thanks…for everything." Her comrades offered grim nods and the guild made for the door.

"You act like you aren't coming back," The merchant stated, staring at them expectantly. None of them answered and silence filled the shop.

"Good bye," Cronan finally offered and then they left the man alone in his shop. An eerie breeze filtered through the alleyways of Taft, throwing his sign back and forth. The info broker stroked his beard thoughtfully, suspicious of the feeling that was building in his gut. The feeling that something was coming to a close, for better or worse.


	38. Infiltration!

**_A/N: I do not claim ownership of Sword Art Online in anyway._**

 ** _Infiltration!_**

 ** _November 7_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 11:45 am_**

The remains of what had once been the largest guild marched through the streets, turning heads as boots clicked off of stone. The civilians and even the veteran players that were visiting stepped into side alleys or shops to allow the large gathering of players through. The more timid players ran through alleys, intent on getting far away from the possible battle.

Players scattered and yet the guild paid them no heed, their eyes were for their leader only and his eyes had only one target; The Black Iron Palace.

Word travelled fast and when Thinker's contingent arrived at their destination a similarly amassed force was there to greet them. Thinker stopped his troops with a hand signal and continued forward; one player broke away from the opposite force and approached the old guild leader.

He bore the standard Army regalia with pauldrons and greaves of a slightly brighter color, the variation to his raiment marked him as a captain within the guild. One that Thinker was actually quite familiar with.

"Burken," The ex-guild leader acknowledged the player with a nod. "Am I to assume that congratulations are in order? I'm sure Kibaou has promoted you by now."

"Not as of yet," The greatsword bearing player returned his counterparts nod.

"I'm shocked," Thinker said in a tone that conveyed that he was anything but. "Is that why you abandoned us? Did he promise you a promotion? More Col?"

"Enough," Burken glared at the man. "You were defeated, your little rag-tag battalion there has no hope of taking all of us, even if we weren't within safe zone limits. What do you hope to accomplish by parading through the streets?"

"I wish to see Kibaou," Before Thinker had even finished the sentence he was met by laughter.

"I think you have your answer," Kibaou's envoy gestured to the players at his back with a confident grin.

"Where is he?"

"Not here," Burken turned to stalk back to his ranks when the rasping of steel on leather assaulted his ears. The man casually turned again to face the player who had once taught him the basics of SAO. Thinker held his rapier in a ready positon with the point trained on his opponent's neck. Burken glanced at the rapier and then back at his previous employer with an arched eyebrow. "Really?"

"Duel me, you win and my guild leaves. I win and you take us to Kibaou." Silence settled into the small square outside of the Black Iron Palace. Slowly Burken brought his hand up and then swiped down, summoning his menu, moments later a duel invitation sprang to life in front of Thinker. The player's eyes betrayed his act of confidence as he read the invitation; Total Loss Mode.

"If I win you die, if you win I die, is that not the cardinal rule of Aincrad? If I lose you have my word that my subordinates will take you to see Kibaou and I expect your men will leave as well…although they aren't long for living anyway, if Kibaou has his way." Thinkers eyes flashed dangerously and his grip on his weapon Argent Flair. The man reined himself in and signaled to one of his sub-leaders, a sword and shield player by the name of Aegis, the player quickly joined him. Thinker showed him the screen and instantly held up a hand to quiet his protests.

"But sir you can't!"

"I need to buy them time," Thinker whispered and glanced back at Burken who waited patiently. Aegis glared at the player and Thinker grimaced as he recalled that they had once been in the same squad, perhaps bringing him had been a mistake. Before Thinker could do anything his sub-leader shouldered past him and came to stand in front of his old comrade.

"Allow me to take Thinker's place," The shield bearer said, his eyes burned into his old friend.

"Never thought I'd see _you_ here," Burken said, clearly amused. "Very well, it makes no difference to me and I'm sure Kibaou would want Thinker for himself. Same rules apply."

"No!" Thinker shouted too late, the duel invitation appeared in front of Aegis and he accepted it immediately.

"Oops," Burken smirked at Thinker before ripping a greatsword from his back-scabbard. The duel timer appeared before both players, Burken waited patiently and Aegis carefully slid his large round shield onto his arm and then slipped his blade out of its scabbard.

"Aegis-" Thinker started to move next to his guild-mate but two of his men pulled him back, intent on getting him away from the impending battle. This had not been part of the plan, he had expected the duel and he had resigned himself to it, _him_ not anybody else. Thinker struggled against his guild-mates' grip but they held firm, eyes staring straight ahead, resolute. Thinker watched as Aegis and Burken clashed, steel on steel creating a shower of sparks.

He knew Burken's strength just as he knew Aegis' and he knew that ultimately, Burken would win out. Why did he have to watch his guild-mates, two former friends, tear each other apart?

A third party watched the first few exchanges of steel from almost a block away. A three story building (which housed player apartments, a clothing boutique and a small restaurant) had provided a rather perfect view of the square in front of the palace.

Satisfied that the plan had proceeded smoothly enough Sky stood up and collapsed her small spyglass. She stepped the last few feet to the edge of the building and took a deep breath. A few buildings over a younger player was leaping between buildings to level his Agility stat, he happened to glance over and see the leader of the Oath Keepers standing on the edge of a building.

The young boy opened his mouth to call out to her only to find his voice catch as Sky stepped off of the edge. The boy gaped as the woman disappeared from sight and then turned and ran in the direction of the apartment he shared with several other younger players. Once there he would begin babbling to his roommates until he found himself lacking oxygen and found them laughing at his expense.

Sky landed in a small alley, sinking into a defensive position as her feet hit the ground so the System would let her defense soak up any excess damage her agility stat would not cover. Her companions awaited her in the dark alley, without looking at them Sky signaled for them to follow her as she left the alleyway at a slight jog.

The sewer entrance that their info broker had shown them lay behind the Black Iron Palace, conveniently along the palace's rear barrier, it would provide perfect cover for them as Kibaou rarely had his men patrolling that side of their headquarters. As they came to the manhole cover Cronan dropped to his knees and began prying at the iron circle. The others kept watch as the warrior-smith worked at the object, finally pulling it free with a loud CLANG! Sky glared at him and the taller player replied with a shrug and then gestured for her to lead.

The guild-leader rolled her eyes and then dropped into the black abyss; Yulier hesitated briefly, which was a mistake on her part. The normally dignified whip-user let out a loud squeak as she was shoved down into the sewer entrance. The remaining Oath Keepers glanced at their samurai companion, who simply shrugged and then leapt in after the women. Vlinn wasted no time following and finally Cronan slipped in after him, dragging the cover back over the entrance and shutting out the last remains of sunlight.

"Alright," Sky said, finally breaking the silence as she scanned the dark hallways with her Night vision skill. "We're in, stay alert there are probably players patrolling." Sky turned her skill off and blinked a few times to get rid of the blurriness and then signaled Cronan to light one of the glow-crystal lamps he had grabbed from the twenty-seventh floor.

"Which way do we go?" Vlinn asked his leader, his hand rested uneasily on Enrapture's pommel and his eyes were restless. Sky did not answer the tunnel they were in branched off either east or west and she was not sure which tunnel led where.

"I still do not understand why we did not go through Thinker's entrance," Yulier said, she too held her hand close to her weapon.

"Because it leads into the Black Iron Palace itself, that place will be swimming with Army players and if Thinker honestly believes that Kibaou didn't know about the entrance, well then he really should have chosen a different username." Yulier's hand clenched and she glared at the much shorter woman. If Sky knew she was being glared at she gave no indication, opting instead to continue her explanation. "This entrance leads straight into the waterway that will bring us into the secret dungeon."

Yulier did not reply other than to continue to glare at the Oath Keeper's leader.

"The only problem," Sky continued, "is I have no idea which way actually leads to the dungeon entrance."

"This way," Muramasa spoke gruffly and pointed to the western tunnel.

"And how might you know that?" Vlinn asked suspiciously, his hand wrapped around his hanger's hilt.

"He used to be a part of Kibaou's inner circle-" Yulier began and before she could finish the samurai found himself facing the ends of three swords. To his credit he did not flinch, simply stared blankly at the three swordsmen. "Now that is enough! Thinker trusted him enough to bring him with us that should be enough for you three!"

"You'll have to excuse us if we have a few trust issues," Cronan said sardonically, shifting into an aggressive stance. "How do we know he isn't going to lead us into a trap, or just stab us in the back the minute our guard is down?" In an instant Muramasa's hand shot to the hilt of his katana and in the blink of an eye he sword swept in a graceful arc. Cronan's eyes widened but none of the Oath Keepers health bars budged.

Behind Cronan a large Crayfish-like creature exploded into data as Muramasa re-sheathed his weapon.

"I want Kibaou taken care of as much as any of you," The samurai said and walked away, leading the way into the dungeon whether any of them were going to follow or not. Slowly weapons were sheathed and the players followed after him (after a brief nod from their leader), albeit at a safe distance.

"Why is he helping you?" Sky asked, turning a questioning gaze at Yulier. The woman smiled sadly at the guild before her. Cronan and Vlinn kept their eyes front, watching for monsters but Yulier had caught the brief flash of their gazes sweeping back toward her. She supposed it would not hurt for them to know her comrades pain…and his shame.

"He was a part of Kibaou's honor guard for a time, but you know how cruel Kibaou can be, he left one of the players to die when they went hunting for a rare item. After that his guard slowly dissolved, unfortunately we lost the other players either during the initial fighting or they simply left before that."

"So he is the last," Cronan murmured.

"He was also the last to leave Kibaou, he was so resolute in his vows…it took a lot of convincing to get him to leave Kibaou and even then…he was loyal to say the least." Cronan watched the samurai with interest; continue to move forward, even bearing that kind of burden.

What kind of strength did that man have?

To have those closest to him die or leave him and then still have the will to possibly kill the person he had once protected? Cronan clenched a fist and stared at it; he thought he had known what strength was, but the definition seemed to be constantly shifting for him.

"Something on your mind," A soft voice asked. Yulier had broken off from Sky and Vlinn to join the warrior-smith as they all continued down the dank tunnels.

"Just admiring how strong Muramasa must be," Cronan admitted to the silver-haired woman.

"He has seen a lot," She agreed sadly. "And yet he continues to fight, for vengeance I had thought. But now I don't know."

"Why do you fight?" Cronan eyed the woman with an upraised eyebrow. Yulier stayed silent for a moment, Cronan watched as her eyes glazed over briefly.

"For him perhaps…" Before Cronan could ask further, Yulier cut him off and spoke up. "Why do any of you?" Cronan glanced to the side to see that his guild-mates had moved closer and presumably caught the last part of their conversation.

The Oath Keepers glanced at each other at a clear loss for words; why did they fight? To go home surely, that was why all players fought, but what else drove them. After a moment of silence Yulier smiled sadly and moved forward to join Muramasa who shook his head almost disappointedly. The two Army sub-leaders moved at a brisk pace, leaving the Oath Keepers to their thoughts.

Unfortunately they did not have long to mull over Yulier's question. At the next turn Muramasa stopped them and peeked around the corner. He swore quietly and signaled for them to retreat deeper into their tunnel. Once they were at an acceptable distance the samurai signaled for quiet.

"Okay," Yulier began. "Once we get into the dungeon itself we can rely on the map data provided by some neutral players…the only problem is."

"Kibaou has men stationed at the entrance of the dungeon." Muramasa finished bluntly.

"Well yeah, we had accounted for that already," Vlinn replied and slowly drew Enrapture so it would not make noise.

"You don't understand," Muramasa shook his head. "He has a small battalion stationed there and they're all a part of his inner circle, they're stronger than his normal soldiers." To the samurai's irritation the small guild-leader shrugged her shoulders.

"We'll be fine." She said simply, standing and smoothly freeing Yamashitaryuu from its scabbard.

"Do you think this will be an easy fight?" Muramasa spat, glaring at the young fools before him. "These are trained players, they aren't monsters you know, killing a person isn't the same as killing an NPC-"

"And what would you know of killing a person," Vlinn asked harshly, staring a steel gaze at the samurai. "Have you ever murdered a player before?" When Muramasa said nothing he continued; "And you think you can just end Kibaou? Do not speak of something like that when you know _nothing_!" Without waiting for a response the Oath Keepers strode toward the corridor to meet the group of players.

"They know what they're doing," Yulier said softly, she laid her hand gently on her comrade's shoulder and offered a small smile. "They helped end the Laughing Coffin threat after all." The samurai did his best to hide his surprise, _those brats?_ Muramasa scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"I still do not know what to think of them," He told Yulier. "Are they truly strong, if it is as you say and they have nothing to fight for then I would say no. But…those eyes…"

"Thinker trusts them," Yulier replied, smiling at her partner. "So we should too." Muramasa said nothing, only moved to join the small guild as they stared off against a brigade of players.

"I'm only going to ask this one more time," Sky called to the group of players, perhaps twelve strong, had it been a mob of monsters most players would not hesitate with those odds. But players are dangerous to fight in groups, duels between one enemy player can lead to death, fighting a group is usually suicide. "Either let us pass or face the consequences." The leader of the Oath Keepers continued, undeterred. Her comrades stood on either side of her, glaring determinedly at the enemy.

The Army laughed at the small players attempt at looking fierce, pity them. The two ex-Army players joined up with their new comrades and the laughter stopped abruptly, only to be follow up closely by a booming voice.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? Muramasa _and_ Yulier, I thought for sure you would be hiding out in a cave somewhere with your tails between your legs." Muramasa remained stoic, not willing to allow himself to fall prey to such an un-imaginative insult. Yulier, on the other hand bristled visibly, her lips turned up in a silent snarl and her hand gripped her whip tightly.

"I should have rid the System of you when I had the chance," The silver-haired warrior snapped, a deep chuckle answered her. The players parted as a mountain of a man strode forward; he approached the small group with little fear in his movements. Vlinn twitched slightly but a hand-wave from Sky was enough to quiet him.

"You speak as if you stood a chance against me," The man, an American judging by his voice, stood at almost seven feet in height with muscle bulging against his dark skin, what was a person like this doing playing a game? Heavy plated armor covered his torso and legs but his arms remained bare, he bore a half-helmet that left his broad, square jaw unprotected. Two huge bull-like horns sprouted from either side of the head-gear.

"You heard the lady," Muramasa said coolly, placing a hand on Yulier's shoulder to calm her. "Move aside or else…" The mountain turned his eyes to the samurai, the spark of amusement in his eyes disappearing in a second.

"You should not have come here, old friend." A hint of respect had crept into the man's voice and a sad light glowed dully in his two brown orbs.

"This has gone on long enough," Muramasa said. "Kibaou needs to be stopped. He is one step away from executing players in the streets-"

"Perhaps the players need this kind of discipline!" The mountain shouted suddenly. "All around I see people taking advantage of each other, stealing, murdering with little care! As if this death game has taken from them their senses, this madness needs to be controlled!"

"By you?" Sky asked pointedly, the man turned his gaze to her briefly before Muramasa once again demanded his attention.

"You abhor all this? Yet when Kibaou orders it, it is discipline? Aincrad has no need of a king, especially him."

"Enough," The Mountain declared, turning his back on the group. "Leave now and I will look the other way, just this once…just for you."

"I cannot do that," Muramasa said quietly. "And I doubt these young ones will either."

"We haven't gotten paid yet," Vlinn reminded him with a smirk. A small spark of amusement shown on the samurai's face briefly before abruptly being extinguished.

"Is that why you fight?"

"I mean," Vlinn scratched his head sheepishly. "We _are_ mercenaries." Muramasa shook his head and turned his attention back to the large player that now stood with his troops.

"I am sorry old friend, but this ends today." Cronan watched the altercation with interest, his mind worked slowly, methodically as he pieced information together from the conversation.

 _That man used to be part of Kibaou's honor guard…or rather he still is,_ Cronan realized and he saw sadness flit briefly over the Mountain's face. _So they used to be friends…_

"If that is how it must be," The giant said slowly, he reached over his shoulder and brought his enormous, double-bladed battle-axe to bear. "It was an honor to fight with you, now bring me the honor of fighting against you." None of the Army players moved, they had no need to, if the players wanted to get to Kibaou they had to go through them.

"Sky," Cronan murmured, catching his leader's attention. "You and I both know you're the only one with a chance against Kibaou, you shouldn't waste time with these guys." The Oath Keeper's leader nodded her head slowly.

"I don't like the idea of abandoning you guys…"

"You're not abandoning us, you're just flanking the enemy," Cronan grinned. "I suggest you take Vlinn and Yulier with you to run interference in case you run into any more brigades." Vlinn shook his head as his eyes raked over the soon-to-be battlefield, already probing the gaps for the best path to get through.

"Yulier won't be able to keep up with us, it's better if just I go with Sky." Both of the warrior's comrades nodded slowly, the two ex-army players remained silent, intent on seeing just how the Oath Keepers worked.

"Then the three of us will hold them back while you hunt that bastard down. That agreeable with you two?" The warrior-smith glanced at the two outsiders, their glares made it clear that it was anything but agreeable, _too damn bad._ Cronan turned to face his comrades to find two outstretched fists accompanied by two grinning faces.

"Show them what we're capable of," Vlinn said behind his malicious grin.

"They drew a line in the sand," Sky informed him, voice full of confidence, shoulders held back, every part the leader. "Now see if any of them are man enough to cross it. Everyone comes home after this, no exceptions."

"Aye!" Cronan and Vlinn shouted as the trio bumped fists.

"Then let's get to it," Sky cried. "Cronan, give us an exit!"

And just like that a battle beneath the streets of the Starting City erupted. Cronan led the charge, roaring a challenge the whole way. The Army players braced themselves as best they could for the oncoming players…It was not enough. Several lighter players went flying into the air, with one or two slamming into either the wall or ceiling.

Cronan's entire body, armor and all, shone a vibrant purple as he rushed into the crowd of players, head down and shoulder forward, his unarmed skill Brazen Blitz did its work. What players were spared from the warrior-smith suffered a visit from Muramasa's katana, the samurai followed close behind Cronan ripping red gashes into whichever players the blacksmith missed.

The three remaining players sprinted quickly through the wake of destruction left behind by the frighteningly cable warriors, they did not stop moving for fear of the enemy players recovering. What enemies were left were kept at bay by Yulier's cracking whip, the length of the weapon swept back and forth, creating a small circle around the three lighter armored of the party.

The large man stood at the end of the small path that Cronan had forged, a final mountain to climb…or knock down. Cronan wrenched Crystalyst from its scabbard and slashed diagonally, stopping the man's axe before it could gain momentum. Muramasa leapt over the struggling warrior to deliver a glowing slash across his ex-comrade's chest. To Cronan's grim amusement, the giant's healthbar hardly budged.

Sky took advantage of Cronan, using him as a springboard to flip over their enemy while Vlinn was content to just run around him. To the Oath keepers' annoyance (but not surprise) Yulier followed closely behind them.

"I need to stop Kibaou with my own hands," She shouted before either of her comrades could react.

"It's not like we can stop her," Vlinn growled, Sky simply shot her a cold glare but said nothing as they turned a corner in the tunnel, leaving their blacksmith and Yulier's samurai to fend for themselves.

They ran as fast as they could, which was not nearly as swiftly as they had wanted with the silver-haired maiden slowing them down.

"Do you think they can hold the whole brigade off?" She asked carefully, Sky saw Vlinn's face scrunch into a wordless snarl as he bit back a retort.

"We had planned for this without you or Muramasa," Sky answered. "I believe in Cronan."

"I do too…it's just-"

"Have faith," Sky said, eyes staring straight. "He has protected us this far and I believe he will continue to."

"Yeah," Vlinn grinned. "That guy is a fucking wall."

"I…can't believe she left us," Muramasa said slowly. Cronan could only offer a grunt as he struggled to keep his enemy's axe pinned to the ground. The warrior-smith's boot glowed vibrantly as he snapped a leg straight up into the man's jaw stunning him long enough for Cronan to abandon the axe, spin around the man and launch a powerful kick into his back.

The Army sub-leader stumbled toward his own men before regaining his balance and turning to face his enemies again. Cronan and Muramasa now stood in front of the tunnel that their comrades had just run down, effectively switching places with the Army brigade.

"Now then," Cronan called out as he stabbed his blade into the stone floor. "How do we want to do this, one at a time or-" The entire enemy party roared and charged at the two players. "Yeah that's what I thought."

"Do you have a plan?" The samurai themed player glanced at the heavily armored man next to him. Cronan did not bother looking at him as he manipulated his menu to produce Lisbeth's latest creation that had used the last of the Living Crystal.

"Keep them from getting to my friends," He announced as he donned his new helmet, the final piece of his armor. The purple glowing, pulsing head gear had been forged into the shape of a roaring dragon, from the top of the skull, two one-foot long horns sprouted and curled upwards at the tips, between them cascaded a mane of purple feathers that fell just below the man's shoulders.

"You know…I think I'm starting to like you," Muramasa muttered as he readied his blade. Together they greeted the incoming surge of players.


	39. My Fight

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties.**

 ** _My Fight_**

 ** _November 7_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 12:59 pm_**

 ****Vlinn huffed loudly as his boots clicked against the stone floor of the dungeon. He might be fast but endurance was not his forte and they had been running for what felt like forever, even though Sky assured him it was only a few minutes.

The warrior's eyes shifted to his leader and their tag-along, Sky kept along fine at the current speed he had set, Yulier on the other hand was pushing herself far beyond her stats (impressively so) and it was easy to tell that she would not last much longer. His first instinct was to just ditch her, but his morals informed him that she could possible die, not that the enemies were particularly impressive in this dungeon.

They had come across two mobs of frog-like creatures that easily fell to the three players. The warrior found himself wondering, absentmindedly, why this was a secret dungeon if there was not at least one obnoxiously powerful enemy. So far they had seen an entire _two_ different species of mobs and both were rather humdrum compared to the monsters they had faced in other bonus dungeons, like the succubus monsters on the sixty-sixth floor, now _that_ had been an entertaining dungeon.

Fortunately there had been no further encounters with players and Vlinn was convinced that their enemy lacked the necessary numbers to stop them.

 _And if there are any more we'll just have to run through them, I doubt any of us could hold off a group._ Vlinn found his gaze sliding back the way they came but he tore them away and forced himself to look ahead, he had to trust Cronan. When he found his eyes moving again he simply diverted them toward his leader.

Sky stared straight ahead with an icy glare, completely focused on the task at hand. She was ready to end Kibaou if need be but Vlinn knew that she would show mercy first and he was not entirely sure that that was a wise option.

The warrior ground his teeth together in frustration, Sky was the strongest and she was the best one to take on Kibaou if it came to that…but damn if he did not want another shot at the man.

For what purpose? Why?

 _To make amends_ , the player thought to himself. _Or just for revenge…I am that vindictive._

But no, this was Sky's call, she was leader and whether or not he and Cronan liked to joke about her she still had final word. That did little to alleviate the anxiety that had forced its way through Vlinn's brain and down into his sword arm. Vlinn found his hand unconsciously drifting toward his blade persistently, when he looked back at Sky again he saw her eyes soften briefly before returning to the cold glare that had rested in her orbs during the duration of the mission.

It was there that Vlinn decided if he saw the opportunity he would take Kibaou himself and if Sky saw fit to punish him after (if there was an after for him) well then so be it.

Yulier dragged in ragged breath after ragged breath as she trailed behind the swift moving Oath Keepers. She had not been in combat for a while (her job as Thinker's second often kept her away from the front lines) but she was only now realizing how under-leveled she was. Still, this changed nothing, Kibaou was hers and hers alone, she would kill that man if she had to, so long as she could protect Thinker.

Yulier shook her head slightly to clear her mind lest she get caught from behind, a brief check over her shoulder revealed that she was safe for the moment. She returned her attention to the two players before her and found herself wondering once again how she let herself fall so far behind. Thinking of strong warriors reminded her of the comrade she had just ditched, the thought made her grimace.

 _Sorry Muramasa,_ she sent a quick prayer to God or Buddha or the System or whoever might keep him safe. It was something she had to do though, if Kibaou did not die by her hand, then she would never be able to rest without truly knowing. Then again, if something happened to Muramasa she would never forgive herself. She could be there protecting him, instead she abandoned him.

 _To kill Kibaou!_ She reminded herself sternly.

 _But is it worth possibly losing a friend?_

Her contemplations ended abruptly as she ran face first into Vlinn's armored back. A buzzing sensation emanated from her nose uncomfortably.

"Ow," She whined rather pitifully and rubbed her nose. In front of her Vlinn had drawn his blade and even further ahead Sky held a closed fist in front of him which had signaled the stop in the first place. One flick of her wrist brought a throwing knife to her hand; another flick sent it speeding into a suspiciously clumped mass of shadows. In an instant the darkness leapt to the side, avoiding the projectile and revealing the player that had been hiding a moment earlier.

Sky hissed softly and Yulier watched has Vlinn glanced at her in confusion. He was even more confused when he moved to attack the man and his leader stopped him again.

"I had hoped I wouldn't find you here," Sky finally said. To Yulier, her voice sounded a little cracked and far too soft to be using with an enemy.

"And I had hoped the reports weren't true," the man countered. His voice carried a smooth lilt to it, he stood rather short but he was lithe and his leanness was complimented by the dark leather armor that he wore under an even darker cloak. His face was angular and handsome causing Yulier to raise an eyebrow appreciatively, at least Kibaou kept decent company.

"We're going through," Sky informed him, her hands were clenched but the fists remained at her side. "Please move aside." The man looked away from the party, a sad look falling over his features.

"You know I can't do that," He replied quietly and Yulier heard a quiet, sharp intake of air from Sky.

"You had your chance then," Sky said after a lengthy pause. Something in her voice gave Yulier the impression that the small guild-leader was not just referring to the current situation. Vlinn, meanwhile, glanced between the two with more confusion decorating his face than the System should have been able to produce.

Vlinn moved to say something, snarky or questioning Yulier could not tell but Sky cut him off before he could.

"I'll take care of this," The swordswoman said lowly, their enemy looked at her sadly but drew his short-sword regardless. "You two just sit tight, I'll try and make this quick."

"We don't have time to wait around," Yulier snapped, hesitation could cost them their shot at Kibaou and she had come too far now to fail. "You take care of him and we'll move on ahead."

"No!" Sky snapped, turning her now icy glare on Thinker's second. "You don't stand a chance against Kibaou without me."

"Then let Vlinn take care of this guy!" Yulier shouted back.

"NO!" The Oath Keeper screamed. " _I_ need to do this." Yulier glared at the other woman as she returned her attention to her soon-to-be opponent. It was then that Yulier decided to act on her earlier plan, without a second thought the silver-haired woman dashed past the Oath Keepers and gave the enemy a wide berth.

Or so she had thought.

When the player appeared in front of her she realized her mistake instantly, she was just too damn slow. The man would have skewered her with his glowing blade had Vlinn not seemingly appeared form thin air, turning aside the weapon with his own as he did so. The would-be assassins expression turned dark but before either warriors could move again Sky was there repelling the Army player.

"No, damn it!" Sky shouted, brandishing her katana. Yulier was not about to complain, instead she took the opportunity to dash again. She heard the swordswoman curse from behind her but she turned a corner and then the players were gone. The ex-Army player put her head down and pushed her agility stats and sprinting skill as far as they would go, she _had_ to get to that man.

The woman pounded down the stone corridors, turning corners sharply as she followed the singular path that the dungeon had set before her. Before long her breathing became too ragged and her muscles screamed for release and so she slowed for the first time in what felt like forever. Yulier collapsed against the wall of the corridor and let herself slide down onto the floor, sucking in as much air as she could, and glanced back the way she came, thankfully there was no sign of the Oath Keepers.

"Good, I thought I would never lose them," She muttered aloud.

"I know, she's such a buzzkill sometimes." Yulier cried out in alarm, moved to jump to her feet, failed, and ended up in a tangled heap. Vlinn looked down in amusement, cocky grin screaming for someone to punch him in the face. "Come on now, you didn't really think you would lose me that easily. It's not like you can out run me or hide for that matter, it's a single corridor." The silver-haired warrior glared at the opposing crimson one, truth be told she had forgotten about him for a moment, he was like that, but now he was here…in front of her…damn it…

"You can't stop me," Yulier's eyes blazed in defiance that, instead of intimidating Vlinn, brought a chuckle.

"Who said anything about stopping you? I've come to take you the rest of the way." The woman looked at the Oath Keeper suspiciously.

"You just want Kibaou for yourself, what is it with men and your…"measuring" contests," She displayed a calm façade but underneath Yulier seethed. What was he playing at? Did he honestly think she did not know about his rivalry with the man? "You just want to steal my kill."

"Ma'am," Vlinn placed his hand over his heart mockingly and dramatically. "I am wounded; I would never, _ever_ , kill-steal. Scouts honor!" Yulier's eyes narrowed at the man and for a moment she contemplated leaving him stunned with her whip but by the time she grabbed it and activated the proper sword skill he would already be half-way across the hallway.

"I wouldn't try that," The man said as he watched her hand twitch toward her weapon. A strange glint sparked in the Oath Keeper's eye and his tone changed to a much colder one than she was familiar with. "You might find yourself…disarmed." A wide grin split the warrior's features and whether it was from pride in his pun or…something else, Yulier was not sure and she was also not sure she wanted to find out.

"Very well," The woman conceded. "You may accompany me but understand that Kibaou is _mine._ " The grin did not leave his lips.

"Oh yes I understand, I will not interfere unless I need to." His tone implied that he would most certainly need to but Thinker's second decided to ignore it for now.

"Fine then, let's go." And without waiting for a response Yulier spun on her heel and strutted down the hall.

"After you," Vlinn replied widening the grin and chuckling softly. The rest of the journey proceeded at a much slower pace with the reasoning of conserving their energy, an idea surprisingly provided by Vlinn. Yulier had wanted to dismiss it and keep running but she recognized the need to recover her stamina if she wanted to stand a chance against that man. Her eyes slid over to her companion's face for the hundredth time. Gone was the grin and the strange look and no longer did he speak so coldly, he seemed as he always did.

 _Then what,_ Yulier mused, _was that whole act about earlier? Was he trying to intimidate me? No, it felt too genuine for that…_ She glanced at him again and saw the mostly vacant expression that usually rested on his face. He was not the most intelligent of his guild, in fact he scored the lowest in the records that the Army kept on the Oath Keepers, and that was counting the solo-players that they sometimes worked with and there were certainly a few gems there.

Yulier soon found herself analyzing the entirety of the Oath Keepers (which of course was not much) as she had many times before. They had been an asset to the guild ever since they had merged into the army and so Thinker, ever true to his gamer-tag dedicated time to keeping records on them and any guild that the Army had dealings with and even the ones that they did not.

But the Oath Keepers kept coming back. That was the surprising aspect about them, no matter what Kibaou sent them into they always came back, even when Vlinn had started taking the assignments by himself. Perhaps that was what had interested Thinker so much, so much in fact that he moved them under his care, oh how Kibaou had hated that. They were much more cooperative with Thinker than they had been with that bastard too.

Eventually Thinker dropped all contact with other mercenary guilds and outsourced missions strictly to the Oath Keepers. And when the Army could no longer present a force on the front lines he had used them as a representative of the Army's might, not that they were aware of that. Yulier offered herself a small smirk.

They handled themselves well on every mission they took, even ones that did not come from the Army. And then the war with Laughing Coffin had come.

Thinker refused to send any of their men; he could not, in good conscious send them to their death. Kibaou had fought them on that too, even insisted that they both be there to represent their guild. They had finally settled on paying the Oath Keepers, which seemed to placate the sub-leader, but only just.

Yulier had not thought that they would come back from that and Thinker was of like mind. They had both received rude awakenings when they not only returned but returned stronger than many front-liners. They had stood shoulder to shoulder with some of the strongest players in the game, those who had earned epitaphs and returned, engraving their own names on the monument of the world.

Sky, the _Mist Dancer_ , Thinker had insisted on keeping the information as up to date as possible and so Yulier had painstakingly dug through rumors and contacts to do as such. The leader of the small guild had earned her name by pure coincidence, a simple graphical glitch that much Yulier was sure of.

Although she did live up to the "dancer" portion of the nickname, the way she fought was so graceful. The guild leader was easily the strongest player in the Oath Keeper and a definite candidate for third or fourth strongest player currently on the front lines.

Then there was the _Dragon Slayer_ , the guild's resident smith and bruiser. His name had been earned from killing all the different dragon spawning mini-bosses currently available, a feat that was replicated soon after, but he had done it first and news like that spread. Then there was his strength, Yulier had seen first-hand how obnoxious his strength stat was, it was not like other players had not sunk as many points into it as he had, yet he continued to push the boundaries of the system and the flexibility with which he employed his Unarmed or Martial Arts skill should not have been possible with his armor and lack of correct stat allocation.

Finally there was Vlinn, the somewhat fast player. That was it, that was the only information she had that made him stand out. He disappeared for a month before the attack on Laughing Coffin and then reappeared to participate in the battle. He had not even earned an epitaph until that battle and from the rumors regarding it; Yulier was a little glad that she had not had to be present. _The_ _Demon_ had done nothing of note and yet there he stood, next to Yulier, calm gracing his features even though they may have been marching to certain death.

This guild, the woman decided, was an anomaly in the system, or perhaps they just wanted to prove everybody wrong. Either way they made things happen and right now she definitely needed _something_ to happen. She was pulled from her musings by a gesturing Vlinn; she followed his pointing finger to a small off-shoot of the stone corridor.

Frowning, the silver-haired woman brought up the map data provided by _The Flash_ and her new husband, Yulier made a small disgusted sound in the back of her throat. The girl was not even old enough to actually have sex (legally of course) yet it made sense to get married? Kids these days. Regardless, the map showed a dead end so she shook her head violently and pointed at the corridor that they were currently moving down.

"We should check it out," The red-armored man insisted but Yulier was already dismissing him with a wave of her hand.

"I'm not wasting any more time," She insisted, checking the map again. "Muramasa said he would be in the central safe zone, we are _so_ close." Vlinn moved to speak again but Yulier was already moving, with or without him. The warrior glanced between the new corridor and the back of his companion. She could take care of herself; he was sure and so, with a "fuck-it" shrug he headed down into the dark hallway.

The cobblestone hall twisted and turned multiple times but never split into a new path. Vlinn followed along tolerantly, which was odd for him lately as he had seemed to have lost any semblance of patience. But something about this corridor had called to him, had drawn his attention, something that was, for the moment, quelling those small urges of anger and violence. Perhaps he was being too introspective, Vlinn thought for a moment, that had to be it, he was thinking too much and that nonsense was bad for you.

The warrior nodded sagely to himself, that was genuinely good advice, at least he thought so and honestly whose opinion did he need other than his own? The passage ended, abruptly, at a very out of place pond. No, the warrior decided, not a pond, it was much too small for that and there was no vegetation around, it was more like a small pool had been put into the dungeon to offer players a sense of respite…or lull them into a false sense of security. On that note Vlinn loosened Enrapture in its scabbard and glanced around.

Nothing had come out to greet him, which suited him just fine, slowly he slid his blade back into the sheath and turned to head back to the main path. Yulier had been right, this was a waste of time, if he hurried he could catch up with her. Vlinn made to leave but found his feet planted solidly on the stone.

Slowly he turned to regard the pool again; it had been put here for a reason, what reason was as good as anyone's guess. But the main point was that it was here and deserved to be inspected thoroughly. Vlinn knelt down and moved his face closer to the surprisingly clear, but stagnant, water; it looked as if something was resting just beyond his reflection. Eyes narrowed, the warrior slowly reached beneath the glasslike surface.

Yulier had increased her speed again but only enough to satisfy her urge to meet with fate sooner. Funny, she had mused, most would avoid this encounter but she, for whatever reason found herself looking forward to it.

Why?

To protect Thinker she asserted forcefully. Everything she did was for Thinker and the guild no matter what she would guard them as was her duty. But was that really the only reason? Did she perhaps want to prove to the rest of her guild (or what was left of it) that she _deserved_ to be their leaders second? Or maybe she thought that once Kibaou was dealt with the guild would go back to normal? Was she that childish?

Yulier shook her head to force the thoughts away; she did not have time to ponder such things. She needed to focus, if she was not prepared, not ready, this could be the end for her. It might be the end of her regardless of preparation.

Light emitted from a large, carved doorway and she knew that her journey was finally at an end, it was now or never. The silver-haired warrior squared her shoulders, raised her chin and marched forward to meet her fate.

Kibaou sat on a makeshift throne, waiting whoever he thought might get to him; apparently Yulier did not make that list.

"So it's you," He grunted. "I had thought my boys would put up a better fight than that, guess I'll have to rethink my body guards."

"You won't get the chance," The woman declared, she cursed inwardly as her voice cracked from nervousness. Her enemy raised an eyebrow but did not address it.

"It can't be just you," The man said, clearly unimpressed. He slowly rose from his makeshift throne and sauntered down short steps that led to a slightly raised dais that took up the middle of the chamber. He was sparsely adorned in armor, a black chest-piece, decorated with what looked like a cobra, covered his abdomen. The chest-piece was suspended by two straps of leather over each shoulder and hidden beneath white fur pauldrons. His gauntlets and boots were made of the same material as the chest-plate but he lacked greaves, instead wearing the pants to his normal outfit. A very large, curved sword hung from his back, swinging with every step he took.

"You aren't nearly skilled enough to make past any of those soldiers and even if you did Shoran was supposed to run interference and he rarely misses." The man observed.

"The only thing you need to worry about," Yulier informed him. "Is me!" And with that her arm snapped forward, sending her whip darting at her enemy's head. Kibaou did not move as the bladed tip of the mid-range weapon drew a red line across his cheek. Instead he watched her look of shock as his health did not budge and inch. Her shock transformed into pure terror as Kibaou resumed walking toward her.

"How?" She managed to gasp.

"Oh," The main tilted his head and smiled. "You had poison on your whip did you? There's an extra skill called Poison Resistance, you just have to drink a lot of the more volatile potions but it's worth it." Yulier swallowed hard, her plan just went out the window, but she had back-ups. Her wrist rotated swiftly, bringing her whip spiraling about her body, glowing and then with an abrupt snap of her joint the weapon snaked out to cut across Kibaou's face again.

Thankfully this time he froze briefly from her paralyzing sword skill. Surprise flashed across his face but that was quickly replaced with a smile and he resumed his slow stalking.

"Armor effects," He informed her as he began to close in, Yulier bit down hard on her lip to keep herself grounded, she could do this, she could do this. Breathing out slowly the woman moved into a skill position which required her to spiral her whip around herself again. As soon as a cerulean sheen had covered her lengthy weapon she released the skill and her body exploded into action. The point of her whip made contact with exposed flesh at least twelve times in a split second and then finally the lash wound itself around the leader's limbs and throat with the intent to bind him.

Whips, while doing little damage, had the highest number of hits available in their sword skills along with weapon effects, applied poisons and possible status effects from certain sword skills, whips could be potent and Yulier was practically a master…practically. As flawlessly executed as that skill had been, Kibaou's health had barely retreated from its original position. He looked down at his bindings with disinterest and then closed his eyes. The enormous curved blade in his hand glowed green and in an instant Kibaou had freed himself and left Yulier weaponless.

The man had exploited the whips weakness (their abysmally low durability) quite easily, even though it was a tightly guarded secret among whip users. The silver-haired maiden lost the strength in her legs and they gave out, dropping her to the stone floor.

"Now then," Kibaou growled as he finished his approach. "Now that your little tantrum is out of the way, we can finally bring this meeting to an end." He smiled as he raised his large sword above his head, calling a red glow to it.

Yulier shut her eyes tightly, she had failed. Failed her guild, failed Thinker, failed herself and worst of all she had failed the people she had abandoned. She deserved this end but she did not want it. She felt a rush of air as the powerful sword began its descent, it was over she decided.

The only ringing to fill the air of the chamber was the sound of steel repelling steel. A grunt of displeasure was followed by a familiar chuckle. Yulier forced her eyes open in time to see a crimson dyed, tattered cloak slowly fall into place. Above her Vlinn glanced down, looking at the women from behind his mask's crimson eyes.

"Am I late?"


	40. Squaring Off

_**Squaring Off**_

 _ **November 7**_ _ **th**_ _ **, 2024 1:49 pm**_

Their eyes remained locked on each other, his earthy brown ran up and down the figure before him, sizing her up, looking for an opening he could exploit. Her steely hazel orbs on the other hand stared into his eyes, burning past them and into his soul, betrayal and anger smoldered there, inciting guilt from within his chest. He shoved the sudden wave of emotion back down, he could not ignore it completely but he could forget about it for the moment…long enough to take care of business.

"Surrender," Shoran said to her. "Kibaou said not to take prisoners…but he'll forgive me this once." Sky's eyes narrowed and she tightened her grip on her beloved blade. The assassin raised his guard, expecting an attack. Instead he watched her shoulders slump in defeat.

"Why," She asked, eyes finally dropping away from his. "Why did it have to be you?" Shoran felt a small tug in his gut, regret he assumed, he swallowed hard.

"Well, orders are orders you know," He chuckled half-heartedly, if he could convince her to step down, maybe Kibaou would take her into the guild. Yes, that's what he would do!

"You told me…" The swordswoman paused briefly; this was a lot harder than she had anticipated. "You said that you wouldn't work for him anymore, that you were done. I told you…" Her hand grasped her blade tightly, shaking from the tremendous force packed into her small fingers.

"Yeah…I did."

"But here you are," The warrior continued. "Still with him. He's a murderer."

"So am I." Came the simple reply, Sky brought her eyes up to meet his again. He did not look proud of his last statement but neither was there regret in his eyes. "So are you last I had heard."

"There's a difference between-"

"Murder is murder, you can sugarcoat it anyway you want sweetheart, I've done what I had to in order to survive. I threw my lot in with Kibaou because he offered me what would help me continue to live."

"He takes advantage of players, kills them, and treats them like tools. That's exactly what you are! A tool for him!" Shoran looked down at his free hand, inspecting it for a moment.

"Yeah, I am." He locked eyes with her again, hoping for a hint of the softness that he used to be able to see in them. But there was no light there any longer, gone was the softness, the hope. Instead, there was hell in her eyes. "If you stand down he will only take you prisoner, he gave me that much but I need to go take care of your partners." He turned to leave, hoping beyond hope that she would just wait. The katana drawing a line on his cheek crushed that hope.

Sighing the assassin slowly turned to face the woman again.

"You will _not_ touch them." She told him, presenting her katana.

"Please don't do this…"

"I asked the same of you a long time ago and you stabbed me in the back, allow me to return the favor." Sky pulled her scarf up so it rested on her nose and covered her face, revealing only her hardened gaze. "If you intend to lay a hand on any of my guild, then as the Guild Leader of the Oath Keepers I _will_ stop you."

"Is this how it's supposed to end then?" The only answer she gave him was to slip into a defensive stance. "So be it then, shall we make this a proper duel?" Sky narrowed her eyes but made no move to answer him, when the duel invitation appeared in front of her she hit the accept option without even looking at it. Surprisingly Shoran smiled at this. "You aren't curious as to what form of duel this is?"

"We both know how this is going to end," She replied, dropping her hardened visage for a moment and Shoran could see the sadness in her features briefly before they were hidden behind her mask of fury. He shook his head and adopted a battle stance.

"I, Shoran of the Aincrad Liberation Force, formally challenge you to a duel." The swordswoman gripped Yamashitaryuu tightly, using the familiar hilt to focus herself.

"I, Skylarksister, the Mist Dancer, guild leader of the Oath Keepers, accept."

The huge two-handed sword flashed up to block an incoming strike only to be abandoned a moment later so its master could push back the attacker with his fists. As soon as that one backed off another player took his place sending a sword skill at the heavily armored warrior. Cronan ducked the initial blow but was forced to bring his forearms up to take the follow up strike.

The warrior-smith grit his teeth together as the curved blade bounced off of his vambraces, there were still so many players. He and Muramasa had been fending off the small onslaught for what felt like hours and none of the enemy had managed to move past them yet but they were slowly wearing down, Cronan even more so since Muramasa had moved off to take down his old teammate.

Currently the giant of a man and the samurai were exchanging blows but Cronan could only grab fleeting glances, he was preoccupied with the rest of the rather large party. Another player leapt forward, thrusting a spear at his abdomen, Cronan watched out of the corner of his eye as another player tried to run past him.

With a snarl the warrior slapped the spear aside, wrenched his enormous sword out of the ground and spun to the side, avoiding another thrust and putting him closer to the interloper. A glowing Crystalyst swung horizontally, catching the run-away player in the gut and launching him into the crowd of Army players. The sudden arrival of their teammate sent a group of players flailing to the ground and a moment later the ringing of polygons sung through the air.

The Army paused at that, giving the warrior some breathing room. It was not the first of their own that Cronan had killed but that was exactly why the rest of them hesitated now, except for one brave soul- the spear wielder. He moved to stab into Cronan again but the heavily armored player grabbed the weapon and drove a straight, rigid hand into the player's chest, where his heart should have been (had a hand not been taking its place at that moment).

For a moment Cronan stared at the Army through a curtain of blue floating data. The players did not move for a moment after that, giving the Oath Keeper a much needed respite. He glanced back toward the other battle, the huge player, Iron Bull, was slowly gaining the advantage even with Muramasa's skillful use of his katana and sword skills. Muramasa was amazing to watch by all accounts, every move placed him into an advantageous position to continue raining punishment onto his opponent.

But Iron Bull was every bit the samurai's equal in skill and prowess, every cut of Muramasa's blade was met by Bull's huge axe. Where Bull could turn aside a strike or block his blade, Muramasa could not match the giant's strength and if his axe were to come crashing down on his katana he would be put into the ground. Thankfully that never seemed to be the case, whenever Bull swung his weapon Muramasa just seemed to not be there. It did not look like he was dodging or moving at all really, it simply appeared that he was not there at all.

Cronan glanced at the group of players quickly, none of them had moved, they seemed as intent on the fight as he did. Satisfied he returned his attention to the elite players, silently cheering Muramasa on. The samurai rained blow upon blow on Bull, what strikes were not blocked by the axe drew angry red lines across the huge player's body but Bull paid them little mind.

The giant stepped forward and swung his huge weapon, dragging a green streak of light behind it; Muramasa ducked underneath the predictable attack and moved in to damage his old friend. Bull grinned as his two-hit skill did its work. At the end of his swings arc the skill moved his body, sliding the axe head toward his hands and propelling the butt of his weapons handle toward Muramasa.

The blunt end smashed into the samurai's head before Cronan could call out to him and Muramasa was sent sprawling onto the stone floor. Cronan moved to help him only to be reminded of the large group of players as they crashed into him. Snarling, the warrior grabbed his sword and swung blindly, he did not care if he did damage, he just needed room.

The ringing of player data sounded through the cavern and at first Cronan simply kept swinging, until he realized that his non-system assisted swings could not do damage. The smith whipped his head to the side in time to see red data spilling out from underneath Bull's axe.

Cronan stopped, unable to move as frost seemed to fill his veins; he watched as the polygons floated into the air and slowly disappeared. _No, that could not have happened. Muramasa was too strong, too quick; he should have been able to avoid a follow up attack._

The giant man bowed his head over the spot where the samurai had been only moments before; there was no roar of victory or triumphant display. If anything Bull looked as if he were paying his final respects to the player whom had once been his partner.

Cronan's eyes were glued to the stone where Muramasa should have laid, brain still unable to process what exactly had happened. How could he lose? He had not known the samurai very long, but fighting next to someone creates a bond that very few others can match, the warrior only shared that connection with Sky and Vlinn, and then Muramasa.

Iron Bull lifted his head, hefting his axe over his shoulder, and made eye contact with the warrior-smith. The empty look in his eyes drilled into Cronan's soul, if he was so sorry to kill his friend then why had he done it? Fury swirled in his stomach, eventually rising to his throat and manifesting itself as a primal roar. Cronan let loose his challenge, not aware that he had activated his Howl skill; upon activation every player within a thirty foot radius had their targeting systems turning their attention to the warrior.

Bull tilted his head in curiosity even as his men overtook the younger player. Kibaou's elite was sure that was the last of the Oath Keeper he would see. Until he heard the young man roar again.

Cronan, holding Crystalyst with two hands, brought the weapon's hilt next to his waist, the blade's tip just barely brushing the ground. As calmly as the enraged warrior could be, he waited for the skill to flare to life even as the small horde of players was whittling his life away. The second his weapon shone green he released, bringing the blade up diagonally and spinning in place. Cyclone sent the immediate players flying through the air and away from him.

A glare that rarely decorated Cronan's face froze the rest of enemy players. The Oath Keeper turned toward Iron Bull, levelling the glare at the much larger player.

"You," Cronan pointed Crystalyst at the elite player. Bull lifted his chin so he could look down on the player. "I'm going to kill you."

It was a simple statement, spoke solidly, with conviction, and accompanied by the warriors seething glare. Bull could have laughed, could have ordered his men to attack the player (although he doubted would have ended well for them) but he did not.

"There has been plenty of talk about you boy, and your guild as well." Bull signaled his players to retreat with a wave of his hand and approached the smaller player with his axe casually laid on his shoulder. "When Kibaou said there was a chance that your guild would try to infiltrate I'll admit I was a little excited to see what the hype was about."

"Shut up."

"As you wish _Dragon Slayer_ ," He rumbled, hoisting his axe off of his shoulder and then holding it out in open air. "I pray that you do not disappoint me."

Bull adjusted his horned helmet and Cronan worried his own fanged headgear into place before bringing Crystalyst up to rest against Bull's huge axe. And then in an explosion of movement bull and dragon collided.

Yulier nestled farther back into the little niche she had found in the chambers wall. Swords collided several times in but a moment and the woman had trouble keeping up. Kibaou was this strong and she had the hubris to think she could have killed him? The silver-haired maiden shuddered to think about what would have happened had Vlinn not made his timely intervention.

Currently the masked player was unleashing a flurry of slashes against the Army Leader, Kibaou was able to parry or block a few but most of the strikes slid past his guard. Unfortunately his defense and armor managed to soak up the majority of damage; his health had only decreased by an inch at most. The whip-user watched as the two warriors paused for a moment, the crimson adorned player huffed and puffed letting his body sag slightly, Enrapture's tip dragged noisily across the floor with each breath he took.

Kibaou simply stood there, grinning haughtily at the exhausted player and two crimson points of light glared back. Yulier bit her lip worriedly, if Vlinn could not deal with this man they would have to hold out until Sky got here, _if_ she got there. Kibaou's snickering grabbed the woman's attention, bringing her out of her distressing train of thought.

"I knew it would be your little group that would come after me," The man said, large curved sword resting on his shoulder. "I even bet Bull two hundred Col that you would be the one to fight me, I can't wait to collect." Even with his mask in place Yulier could see Vlinn's eyes narrowing.

"Arrogant prick," The Oath Keeper hissed, Kibaou simply smiled and opened his arms, inviting the player to attack again, to which Vlinn obliged. A huge red line opened up along Kibaou's chest but once again his health did not budge.

"I'm sorry is there a breeze in here?" The snake of a man raised an eyebrow at the Oath Keeper. Vlinn ground his teeth together but refused to rise to his jibe, it would just muddle his thoughts. Instead he paced a circle around the man, Enrapture held at the ready. His crimson gaze probed along Kibaou, looking for any point of weakness. As sparse as his armor seemed to be its defensive scores were obscenely high, even if he struck a weak point Kibaou had seemed to have garnered a naturally high defense as it was.

"You could just surrender," Vlinn said as he continued to prowl around the player. Kibaou burst into robust guffaws which was more than enough of an answer for Vlinn. "Yeah I didn't think so."

"You know," The man said after his small fit of laughter. "When you came back from the fight with Laughing Coffin I was more than a little surprised, I was hoping the boys would finish off your little guild so I wouldn't have to. A shame Thinker wouldn't go too, two birds with one stone, eh?" Vlinn narrowed his as at Kibaou, attempting to decipher the meaning behind his words.

"The boys? Thinker? You told Thinker to go to the fight?"

"But then you came back," Kibaou continued as if he did not hear the other player. "Not only did you survive, you made a name for yourself, you left an impression with other players." The man began to pace a circle reverse to Vlinn's. "Three players in one guild, all with known and accepted epitaphs. Do you know how rare that is? The KoB only has two, granted you're nowhere near _their_ level, but still, impressive none the less. When I found out that you're guild was working with Thinker, I have to admit I was a little excited to have a rematch with _the Demon_. But now you've gone and disappointed me."

"What connection do you have with Laughing Coffin?" Kibaou dismissed the player's question with a wave of his hand.

"You won't live long enough to find out, let's just end this once and for all." Vlinn did not need another invitation, he leapt forward, blade glowing red and Kibaou's sword flashed up to meet it.


	41. Why Do You Fight?

**_A/N:_** **Sword Art Online is owned by A-1 Pictures, Aniplex USA, and Reki Kawahara and I am in no way affiliated with any of the afore mentioned parties. Anyone who stuck it out to the end, thanks. You're awesome!**

 ** _Why Do You Fight?_**

 ** _November 7_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 2:25 pm_**

 ** _You, Who Barely Knew Him_**

Crystalyst smashed aside the heavy axe (which Cronan had learned was called Render) and was thrust forward, homing in on Bull's stomach. The shaft of his axe swept to the side, pushing the blade away and sparing the man from disembowelment but not from Cronan's next attack.

The smaller player stepped into Bull's now wide guard and launched a glowing fist into the man's stomach; he retracted his fist as the Army player doubled over, intent on slamming his enemy in the skull. Instead Cronan found himself fending off Bull's long sharp horns as they tried to impale him.

"Not bad kid," The man rumbled as stepped back and brought his weapon back up into some semblance of a guard. With a roar Cronan struck again, swinging his heavy blade wildly. No color shone through his weapon but he continued his small barrage that Bull easily picked apart, almost contemptuously. Finally the two-handed axe slammed into Cronan's chest, sending him stumbling backwards.

"I was just complimenting you," Bull sighed, letting his axe drop down to his side casually. "And then you go and do something like that. You aren't using your head kid, and you know what they say, use it or lose it!" At this Bull's axe arced out horizontally, tracing a blood-red path toward Cronan's neck. The younger player brought his arm up to take the brunt of the damage, shocked at the show of speed Bull had displayed.

The heavy weapon crashed into the Oath Keeper, sending him flying and dropping his health dangerously close to red. The warrior hit the ground and rolled, stopping only when his body hit the wall of the dungeon. Thankfully he had landed on his stomach, attempting to get up from your back was a heavy armor user's nightmare.

Cronan took his time climbing to his feet, even as Iron Bull approached swinging his axe in circles non-chalantly. Bull took his time closing the distance, giving Cronan the chance to throw back a health potion and locate his beloved sword, which just happened to be behind Bull. Perfect.

"Where's that anger and confidence you had a minute ago?" An infuriating smirk crossed the larger man's lips and Cronan felt his own mouth turn up in a soundless snarl. "As of now I have yet to be impressed. You disappoint me Dragon Slayer." Cronan lunged forward, fists glowing brightly; the warrior-smith unleashed a barrage of light punches, more to distract his enemy than anything.

They had been fighting for a while now and Cronan still had yet to formulate a solid plan. Most of the time his strategy consisted of beating the enemy up until they had no more health points, then again most of the time his enemy did not have a higher defense than him. Bull's plate armor was heavier than his own unique covering and there were few weak points that he could exploit other than the man's bare arms…why had he not been focusing on those?

Cronan sighed mentally before letting his brain formulate a new plan, one that involved getting his sword. Cronan was careful to keep his eyes locked on his enemy as the two circled each other, before Cronan was anywhere near Crystalyst, however, Bull charged, axe shining. Cronan ducked beneath the initial horizontal blow and then darted inside the larger man's guard before he could bring his axe to bear.

The Oath Keeper launched a blue glowing uppercut into Bull's unprotected jaw, snapping the man's head back and throwing him off balance. In an instant Cronan dropped to one knee and scythed a shining leg into Bull's suddenly unsteady ones. Cronan swept the much larger man off of his feet with more ease than should have been possible. The warrior did not take the time to savor his victory; Bull was already rolling to his feet with murder glowing in his eyes.

Cronan dashed for his sword with his enemy following closely behind, the warrior dropped into slide, grabbing the hilt of Crystalyst as he went. Cronan leapt to his feet and Bull prepared himself for the warrior to spin and confront him but Cronan continued facing away from his opponent.

Caution earned from countless fights slowed Bull just in time, Cronan spun around with inhuman speed slicing upward with a glowing blade. The warrior cursed when he saw that Bull had retreated just in time to avoid the high damaging sword skill, Back Rush. He had no time to berate himself as Bull rushed in, axe swinging.

Crystalyst flashed up and swatted the first blow aside and then Cronan was forced to retreat a step from Bull's follow attack. The axe blade swung wide of the warrior throwing Bull off balance, the larger player's torso twisted around as it followed his weapon's path through the air. Cronan moved to thrust his blade into the man only to find himself facing an axe head again.

The sharp point of the axe barely brushed Cronan's cheek but it left an ugly red scar regardless. The warrior jerked his head back and brought up Crystalyst as Bull finished his three hit sword skill.

"Didn't think I could do that, did you?" The man smirked. "Three hit skills are very rare in axe users but you'd be hard pressed to find a player as skilled with an axe as me." Cronan said nothing, using the man's monologue to instead focus on his next move. His eyes drifted to Bull's bared arms again, this man was a fool, he decided.

Removal of limbs in Aincrad was a problem they fixed in the first patch of the game, before, if you lost an arm that was it, it was gone. Now limbs regenerated after a fixed period of time. When a player lost any limb it would decrease their health points heavily as well as basically halving the players combat ability.

Cronan concentrated on avoiding looking at his opponents arms, if he was going to take advantage of this then he needed to keep Bull focused on something else. Luckily for him the larger player would do that for him.

"Why do you feel the need to avenge him?"

"Excuse me?" Cronan blinked, realizing his opponent had asked him several times already; Bull sighed and shook his head.

"Muramasa," He spoke the name somberly. "How long have you known him?"

"Two days." Bull's eyes narrowed at this.

"You knew him for two days and suddenly you want revenge? That's idiotic."

"How long did you fight beside him?" Cronan countered, he let Crystalyst's tip rest on the floor for the time being.

"Ever since the Army was created." Bull answered, he copied Cronan's movement and brought his axe into a resting position. "He and I have fought together for a long time."

"Then you should already know the answer," The Oath Keeper snapped. "Fighting next to someone, when you need to rely on each other to survive, that creates a bond far different than any other."

"Please don't throw your friendship speeches at me," Bull rolled his eyes and brought his axe down, ready to continue the fight. Cronan, however, did not move.

"You two should have been next to brothers and you killed him anyway."

"We were on different sides kid."

" _That_ is why I will avenge him," Cronan swept his blade through the air and pointed it at Bull. "You were comrades, partners! You're supposed to protect each other, fight for each other, and you betrayed him!"

"That can't be it though," The larger man mused, letting his weapon rest again. "Why do you fight?" Cronan let his sword drop, that was the same thing both Muramasa and Yulier had asked him barely two hours ago.

"What?"

"Why are you fighting me? Revenge for someone you barely knew? Or is it because Thinker paid you that much? I don't even care for this specific moment; I want to know why you fight in general. Obviously to go home, that is why we all fight, but what drives you personally?" Cronan snarled and leapt forward, swinging his weapon heavily, he had heard enough of this guy's existential _bullshit_.

Crystalyst arced toward the man's left arm but Bull had been prepared for the attack. His axe intercepted the sword and attempted to push it aside but Cronan pressed forward, locking the two weapons together and pushing them toward Bull. The man returned the force, locking the two warriors into a brief struggle for power.

Bull's men watched on as the two players seemed trapped in a contest of strength. They had the upmost confidence in their leader of course; he had one of the highest strength stats in the game. Their leader had the same line of thought, so it came to a surprise to him when he slowly began to lose ground. Cronan glared at the man as he continued pushing his strength stat to its limits.

"How," Bull grunted. "I should be stronger!"

"I doubt you've put every single stat point you've ever gotten into strength." Cronan answered, it had become apparent that even if he won this contest of strength it would not put him at an advantage, so he shoved Bull back and then retreated a few steps, creating a small amount of space between them.

"You can't have possibly allocated points like that, how can you even hit anyone?"

"How can I miss?" Cronan snorted. "The System literally does all the work for me."

"But your un-armed skill, surely that takes Dexterity and Agility."

"Some do, but I've only started using those moves recently." At this Cronan cracked his neck and knuckles. "Ready for round two?"

"I will still kill you," Bull informed the confident young man. "And then my boys and I are going to hunt your friends down and kill them. After that, whatever player who doesn't follow Kibaou's orders, in short I am going to have the time of my life after I deal with you." Cronan's eyes narrowed and leapt forward striking out with a glowing blade.

"I think I finally have an answer," The purple clad player shouted above the sound of metal clashing. The weapons swung in tight arcs, often nicking the players, slowly draining health but never making a large impact. Crystalyst swung to the side, parrying a hit from the axe before flicking up in an attempt to cut Bull's arm. The larger warrior stepped aside and brought his axe down.

"Enlighten me," He roared back as Cronan brought his sword up to block the vertical strike.

"I am a shield, I fight to protect my partners," Cronan spun to the side and lashed out with Crystalyst, finally scoring a heavy hit on Bull's torso. The smaller warrior smiled grimly as he watched his enemy's health drop by an agreeable amount. "I've been their shield since the beginning and I will continue to be. That's why I fight; if you want them then you have to break _me_."

"That sounds like an agreeable course of action," Bull shouted as his axe arced through the air, Crystalyst swung to meet it. The two weapons bounced off of each other and Crystalyst came to a stop by Cronan's leg, the exact place it needed to be. Cronan grinned as his blade glowed green almost instantly. Bull had yet to reorient himself by the time Cronan released Cyclone so the only thing he saw was a flash of green and then he felt the annoying buzzing that had taken the place of pain in this world.

Suddenly his axe felt much heavier and off balance in his hand and his entire left arm had stopped buzzing almost instantly. Bull moved to place his axe into skill position and attack Cronan again only to find that he had no grip on the lower portion of his weapon's handle. Bull glanced down in confusion to find that he no longer had a left arm.

"I've been working on that for a while now," Cronan informed him with a wicked grin. "Last chance to surrender." Bull answered him with a roar and attempted to swing his axe without the assistance of the System. Cronan snorted and swatted the weapon away with his hand, the same way he might an insect. "Very well then, catch."

The warrior-smith tossed his weapon underhand and the weapon flew through the air, attracting Bull's attention briefly, the next second he saw only stars as Cronan slammed a glowing fist into his face. The strength behind Cronan's fist sent Bull stumbling backwards with blurry eyes.

When his vision returned he was presented with the image of Cronan catching his enormous sword, blade glowing all the while, and then bringing it down toward him. Bull brought his axe up to protect himself but it was a futile display. Crystalyst sheared first through the axe, breaking it into thousands of polygons, and then it continued down through the man's remaining arm.

Bull cried out as he watched his health drop almost to zero. Relief surged through his body as it stopped just shy of the zero percent marker. A moment later he felt nothing as the living sword separated his head from his shoulders.

Cronan watched grimly as his opponent floated away as shards of data, he closed his eyes briefly to honor the man. He had possibly been Cronan's strongest enemy but he was an enemy nonetheless and mercy was what got player's like him killed. A small smirk crossed the warrior-blacksmith's lips, it was a damn good thing the unarmed skills had moves that worked with swords, that element of surprise may have been what finished the fight for him. Of course the dexterity and agility buffs his armor provided helped.

Smiling, Cronan turned to address the rest of the Army players but he found that they were already retreating, thankfully away from his friends. Cronan blew out a deep sigh and collapsed, he had not realized how shaky he was.

The warrior shuffled back so he could rest against the wall for a moment, a brief repose and then he would rejoin his guild-mates. The player slowly fell into a well-deserved nap, fully unaware of his red, blinking sliver of health.

 ** _You, Who Was Betrayed_**

The short sword had barely a second to parry aside the heavy, almost instantaneous blow and even with the perfectly timed tap from the smaller blade, the weight of the enemy katana almost blew through the weapon regardless.

Shoran grimaced and ducked beneath the follow up attack that so closely shadowed the first. The katana was well made, he mused, although he was certain that it was the fact that it _was_ a katana that had saved his life so far. If Sky had continued using a rapier as her main weapon he probably would have been lying on the ground covered in hundreds of holes.

The assassin tried not to think about that too much, he was letting his mind wander away and when fighting the Mist Dancer, losing focus probably meant losing your life. He grimaced again as he leapt forward, weapon glowing, to launch a two hit sword skill that was easily deflected by the glowering swordswoman.

Sky slid her curved blade across the offending weapon as she spun around the player, intent on taking his legs out, but Shoran was swift. He ducked down, spinning to face Sky and launching another sword skill, this one a simple one-hitting thrust skill that Sky avoided simply by stepping to the side.

Shoran was quick to step back, creating distance, and bring his guard up again. Sky allowed the small break, as much as she did not want to admit it, she needed the brief respite just as much as he did. It was not often that she found an opponent that could match her strikes but Shoran was keeping up with her better than she would have thought.

A grimace crossed the guild-leaders face; she was praising her enemy, her _friend¸_ she reminded herself. She locked eyes with the man and once again she found her resolve shaking. Why did it have to be him? The swordswoman bit down on her inner cheek to ground herself and then brought Yama into a skill position, the familiar weight comforting her.

Shoran acted first, leaping at her and bringing the blue glowing sword down vertically, Sky stepped to the side as he landed, avoiding the strike and putting her in a position to hack into him before the post-motion effect wore off. However Shoran's landing had been perfectly calculated and both his body and sword were in position for the upward slash he delivered, drawing a red line up Sky's body.

The woman leapt back, cursing and bringing her sword up defensively, should Shoran choose to rush again. The player stayed where he was, eyeing Sky curiously.

"Why did it have to be you?" He sighed, worrying his thumb over the cross piece of his blade.

"I should be asking you that," Sky countered, glowering at the man. "You promised me!"

"I promised nothing," His reply stunned the shorter player. She fought desperately to keep her expression neutral and her thoughts clear.

"You said-"

"You _assumed_ I would leave, we all do what we need to in order to survive this death game."

"Enough talking," The guild leader said coolly, her face betrayed no emotion and her sword was held steadily in an offensive stance. "I don't want to hear your voice anymore." She leapt into the air, somersaulting before her body dropped to the ground, sword drawing a gold line in the air. As the guild leader crashed to the floor Shoran threw himself into a roll, narrowly avoiding the blade.

As soon as his feet were under him again he dashed forward, thrusting his blade forward. Sky spun to face him, swinging Yama wide and heavy, deflecting the small sword. As soon as contact between the steel was made Sky jerked her body sideways, bringing her katana back across diagonally, drawing a line across Shoran's torso, in the real world a blow like that would have opened him up from shoulder to hip.

Shoran ignored his rapidly declining health in favor of charging Sky again and stabbing his weapon into her torso rapidly. Sky smashed the butt of her hilt into the side of the man's head staggering him enough for her to retreat. Her brain worked overtime, forming strategy after strategy with all of them ending the same way, her asking; _why are we fighting?_

"I don't want this," She whispered, gripping the hilt of her sword tightly, ever seeking the comfort of its weight and solidity.

"And you think I do?" Shoran said before throwing back a health potion. Sky narrowed her eyes but did not try to stop him, choosing instead to produce and drink her own potion. "If I don't work for him I die, if I do my job properly you die, it isn't exactly a win-win for me."

"If you set your weapons down now, we can take care of Kibaou and you won't have to worry about it." Shoran was shaking his head before she even finished her sentence.

"If you actually take him down, and trust me that's a big if, he still has lieutenants stationed everywhere, someone else will simply step in and take his place."

"The passiveness needs to stop at some point," Sky pointed out. "If no one stands up against him then the abuse and killing will continue, until someone puts a stop to it." Shoran shook his head again, a sad smile crossing his lips.

"You're strong Sky, very strong. But so is he, you can't win against him, it wouldn't surprise me if your friend is already dead." Sky stiffened at the mention of her partner. "If your blacksmith hasn't fallen already to an entire troop _and_ a lieutenant I'll eat my sword. Then there's the Demon, he has no chance against Kibaou, he was dead the minute he passed me."

"You're wrong, they're both strong," Sky glared at the player she had once called a friend, resentment and conviction shone in her eyes and she tightened her grip on the weapon all the more. "Vlinn and Cronan…Cronan is one of the strongest player's in this game, I trust him to keep your cronies off our backs…and Vlinn…he'll come back, he always does."

"Touching," Shoran sneered. "Tell me Sky, why are you fighting? For them?" Sky's eyes narrowed, but she smiled and nodded.

"Hell yeah, I have to take care of them, they'd be lost without me," She grinned and brought her sword into position, she did not want this, but he left her with little choice. "And they need me now, so get out of my way before I carve my way through you."

Shoran frowned and sadness crossed his features briefly before he crushed his feelings down as she had and presented his blade to her.

"Come on then, let's end this." The words had barely left his lips when Shoran went on the attack again leaping forward and cutting down, Sky stepped to the side and brought her guard in low, predicting the upward slash that Shoran delivered.

"You did this move less than five minutes ago, you are too predictable." Sky chided, swinging Yama down at her enemy. The man grimaced and brought his blade up to block the descending weight of her curved blade. The strength of the swing pressed the lean player back into the stone of the floor, Shoran rolled out from under the interlocked weapons, bringing his sword with him.

As he came to his feet Sky was already moving, swinging her glowing blade horizontally at him. Shoran dropped to the ground again and would have jumped back to his feet had he not seen the blade change direction and cut back across. The rogue threw himself into a backwards roll as Sky's three-hit skill concluded with a vertical strike that would have planted the blade in his head had he not moved.

Shoran was already dropping into a skill position the moment his feet were under him. His blade, held in a reverse grip, emitted a blue light, ready to be released and so he did. The System took over his movements and launched him into the charging-type sword skill. The moment he took his first step he finally took notice of Sky's wide, low stance. Her blade was held at her hip with her left hand hovering over the tsuba.

Yama blazed with emerald radiance that brightened up the dark hallway of the dungeon. In that single moment Shoran's eyes widened with panic and Sky's words echoed through his mind, _you are too predictable._ Shoran wanted to stop, to drop to the ground, leap in the air _anything_ , but the skill had already begun and the System would see that it was finished.

Shoran raced toward Sky as she narrowed her eyes in concentration. Tsujikaze was a very powerful one-hit sword skill that cut faster than any player could react so it was almost certain to hit its target; the only problem was the length of time it took to charge the skill. Familiarity with a skill cut the time it took to initiate the move (and Sky had made sure she could use it as quickly as possible) her expertise with the skill, coupled with her ability to predict Shoran's movements had brought her this far.

That was the easy part.

Now she needed to time it perfectly, the fastest moving skill in the game trying to hit a charging-type skill, those odds did not leave her with a lot of room for error. But she could do it, she was the Guild leader of the Oath Keepers, she was the Mist Dancer.

She. Could. Do. This.

But did she want to, nagged a small voice at the back of her mind. No, came the answer, but duty comes before personal need. Sky focused on her target, Shoran, as he dashed toward her, her mind slipped into the part of her that came out only when she was in the heat of battle. The almost instinctive piece of her that controlled her movements far more fluidly than the System or her ever could.

The rogue charged, blade glowing, and in an instant Yamashitaryuu flashed up diagonally. The System carried Shoran several meters past the woman before the light on his sword finally died out. The post-motion delay kept the assassin leaning low with his blade presented forward while Sky was stuck in her wide stance with her arm out stretched, Yama's tip pointed at the ceiling.

A shallow red line marked her across her ribs, decreasing her health by a fair amount but nothing to worry about. Shoran on the other hand bore a scar that traced from his right shoulder, through his torso and ending just above his hip. His breathing came labored as he watched his health slowly decline, finally coming to a stop at the twenty-five percent marker.

The assassin consciously slowed his breathing, he needed to calm down. He stood up and turned to face Sky to find that she was still trapped in her post-motion delay. That was the cost of the stronger sword skills, if you did not kill your enemy with them then you paid the price and Sky was about to pay in full.

He reached into his belt-pouch and produced several small paper balls, he would show her predictable. He tossed the spheres at the ground by Sky's feet, causing them to burst open and unleash the smoke held within. These smoke bombs were the epitome of the alchemy skill, a seldom practiced (or known) non-combat skill. Only rogue-like players used them or even had access to them through connections in the underground.

Now, he just needed to take her out, he frowned inwardly at that, he was going to hate himself for the rest of his life after this. He pulled a bottle filled with an orange liquid from the pouch at his belt and pulled the stopper out with a slight _pop!_ He chugged the potion down and watched as he health rose almost instantly, in the top right of his vision a small shield icon phased into existence, informing him that he had a slight defense buff. He took a deep breath to steady himself for what he was about to do and then moved.

The player charged toward the shorter woman, leaping over her and landing softly, utilizing every ounce of stealth he could muster. The player barely made a whisper as he assumed a skill position and leapt toward her right side, glowing blade leading the way. Shoran's blade descended toward her ribcage, red glow dimmed by the thick smoke.

The blade was smacked aside by the much heavier katana before it could prove to be a threat. Shoran was left unbalanced, post-motion, and dumbfounded.

"Too predictable," Sky whispered, Shoran latched on to her gaze, staring deep into her eyes. They had changed again, he noted, the cold fury had died down, forgiveness did not rest there, but there was softness to her eyes again, even if it was born from regret, the assassin found a little comfort in that.

Yamashitaryuu flared a brilliant shade of gold-tinged crimson as Sky released her highest hitting sword skill, Odori to Oni.

Her katana sliced up diagonally, from left to right, she spun the sword into a reverse grip and brought it across horizontally, right to left. The swordswoman danced to the player's left and struck twice in quick succession, downward diagonally followed by an upper horizontal cut.

Yama stabbed into Shoran's abdomen before being unceremoniously ripped out and then brought across the rogue's throat. A downward stroke drew a line through his shoulder and then a horizontal strike cut his legs out from under him.

One quick slash marked his abdomen again and Sky slipped to his front staring into his eyes one final time as she brought her beloved weapon down vertically, slicing the player in half from skull to groin.

There was a brief moment where Shoran could offer her a smile before he was shattered into a thousand pieces.

And then there was a brief moment where everything was still.

She fought against the stinging at the back of her eyes, this was a choice she had made, she reminded herself. For a moment she thought she could win against the moisture collecting around her eyes.

And then a blue holographic message appeared before her and she finally broke. Her grip on her katana abandoned her and her blade dropped to the stone floor. Leaving Sky to collapse beside it, eyes finally betraying her.

 ** _You, Who Are Weak_**

Vlinn ducked below the initial blow and countered with his own before Kibaou could follow through. Scoring a hit against Kibaou's torso was enough for the moment and so the red armored player retreated, watching with disgust as Kibaou's health barely budged. This song and dance was getting old real fast, Vlinn cursed as the enemy threw back another defensive boosting potion, as if the heavy armor wasn't enough.

Kibaou dropped the empty bottle, belching as he did so and then bringing his wide, curved blade to bear.

"Charming," Vlinn muttered. A soft rustling caught his attention and he glanced back at Yulier. He offered her a comforting smile, though he was not sure she could see it, he'd get her out of here, he assured himself.

"Don't worry," Kibaou called to the silver-haired woman. "I'll take care of you in good time." Yulier's face twisted into an outraged snarl, the snake of a man met her gaze with a cocksure grin.

"Eyes over here Kibaou," Vlinn demanded, standing a little straighter. "You're fighting me, remember?"

"If that is what you call this," Kibaou replied with a shrug. Snarling, Vlinn leapt forward, Enrapturing glowing with a charging-skill. Kibaou's large blade flashed up slapping Enrapture aside and throwing Vlinn off course. The red adorned player skidded to a halt and spun to confront his enemy only to find Kibaou already moving, wicked blade alight. The wide blade swung across horizontally, caught off guard Vlinn could only think to bring Enrapture up to block, this of course was a mistake.

The bigger sword crashed into the lighter weapon and sent both hanger sword and swordsman flying away. Vlinn crashed into the stone floor and rolled, losing the world to a spinning blur, distantly his mind registered the clanging of his weapon hitting stone. The warrior came to his feet smoothly and then stumbled as the world continued to rotate rapidly.

He became aware of a red glow and his instincts screamed at him to move, his attempted dodge floored him, which saved his life. His vision cleared in time for him to watch Kibaou's sword cleaved through the air where Vlinn had been standing moments before. The warrior offered a quick thanks to whatever was watching out for him as rolled to his feet and sprinted away from Kibaou.

A brief scan of the room revealed Enrapture resting on the opposite side of the chamber. Kibaou made a run for the blade, attempting to cut off Vlinn from his weapon. However, by the time Kibaou reached his desired target Vlinn was already standing there, blade presented, wide grin spread over his face.

Kibaou's only response was to swing a glowing blade at the shorter warrior. Vlinn ducked easily under the blade and followed through with a quick two hit skill before dashing away. Before Kibaou could move Vlinn attacked again, activating a quick-off charging skill and dashing toward his enemy's back.

The only warning Vlinn had of danger was Kibaou's sword suddenly flaring up with color. In an instant Kibaou spun around, bringing his weapon in a diagonal arc, Vlinn could do nothing as the large blade bit into his side, ripping down his health and flinging him halfway across the room.

The warrior hit the stone for the second time in a matter of three minutes and had he been in better shape he probably would have complained about it. As it was he was too busy glaring at his healthbar, willing the colored piece to stop declining so rapidly. Finally the bar came to a stop in the middle of the yellow area, too close to be comfortable, but at least it was not red, he reassured himself.

Kibaou watched with amusement as Vlinn struggled to his feet, breathing heavily and groping at the bag hanging from his belt. Vlinn grimaced as he withdrew his last health potion; he yanked the stopper out with his teeth, spit it out and then drained the bottle.

"In the two years we've been here you haven't improved much," The Army leader called from across the chamber. Vlinn did not answer as he straightened himself out; he reached into his cuirass as he felt something bounce against his skin.

Out came a fang hanging around his neck by a simple leather cord. _Sera_ , Vlinn thought. If she were there Kibaou would have been begging for his life by now, Vlinn clenched a fist around the fang.  
She was not there though, he was on his own and he would have to fight with his own power. Easier said than done.

Vlinn leaned forward, drawing Enrapture behind him and letting an orange glow collect along its blade. Fell Crescent launched the warrior forward, he seemed to disappear to Kibaou and for a brief moment the Army leader lost his arrogant smirk. The Demon seemingly appeared from thin air, dragging his blade up diagonally, from right to left.

Kibaou sneered at the shorter warrior; this fool had the gall to think he could damage him. Instead of attacking him outright, Kibaou made to grab for him as Vlinn jettisoned himself backwards. Kibaou's fingers closed around leather and he yanked back, hoping the leather was strong enough to bring Vlinn with it, it was not.

The red armored player flew backwards, landing lightly on his feet, leaving Kibaou to examine the accessory in his hand.

"So this is all that's left of your cat?" Kibaou mused aloud; he dangled the charm at the end of the cord and raised an eyebrow at his opponent. Vlinn finally saw what Kibaou held and pawed wildly at his collar in disbelief.

"Give that back!" The Oath Keeper roared. A smug grin crossed Kibaou's mouth and he collected the fang in his hand. With a wink the strength-based player clenched his fist, inciting a ringing alarm bell, followed by small data polygons. He opened his hand to allow all of the data to float away. Vlinn snarled in rage and dashed straight at Kibaou, Enrapture shining a vibrant yellow.

The player dissolved into air briefly before reappearing in front of Kibaou, skidding to a stop and bringing his curved sword across diagonally. The sword reversed directions once and then again, each strike getting lower with its master matching his blades descent.

Kibaou snarled and launched a single-hit skill of his own, bringing the blade down diagonally. Enrapture swept up to meet the blade, not pushing against it, but allowing it to push the smaller blade down. Vlinn angled his sword so Kibaou's would slide down the curving edge as the warrior slipped under the huge blade.

Vlinn slid Enrapture free of the larger blades momentum, and then snapped it out to the side, encouraging a soft rose-red glow to spark to life. The warrior activated the skill with a stomp, at the cue the System took over for him, launching one of the few curved sword skill that had more than three hits to its combo.

Vlinn stabbed forward wildly, just barely drawing a line on Kibaou's unprotected bicep before wrenching it up and around in an S-shape to cut diagonally across his enemy's torso. His blade reversed direction as Vlinn ducked low and Enrapture cut across Kibaou's thighs.

The warrior spun to the side as he came back to his full height, ending the skill with a strike to Kibaou's throat, which the Army leader blocked in time, much to Vlinn's chagrin. Kibaou snarled as his blade flared with red fire, the man, covered in three large scars and bathed in a red light, cut an imposing figure as he slashed his oversized weapon at Vlinn.

The Oath Keeper brought Enrapture up instinctively as the larger blade smashed into it, propelling the player half-way across the chamber for what felt like the fifth time. Vlinn lost his grip on the blade as he soared through the air and all of the oxygen in his lungs was forced out of him as he slammed into stone.

The player gaped silently, willing air to rush back into him. Finally oxygen inflated his lungs again and he was able to prop himself up on his elbows in time to see Enrapture, which had managed to stab point first into the stone, explode into data.

Vlinn felt ice flow through his veins as he watched the polygons slowly disappear. Kibaou grinned at him from across the room.

"I sure hope you brought a spare." Vlinn did not move, more accurately he could not, his body was still in post-motion from his extensive skill and even if he was not he still felt like he was going into shock. First the fang, _her heart_ , and then Enrapture, _her memory._

 _System damn it!_ The warrior cursed, inwardly. It was like losing her again, he was powerless before and he still was. What was all that training for then, he was no stronger than before, he was losing, _again!_ If he could not beat him, could Sky? What would happen to Yulier if he went down?

Vlinn clutched at his head as too many thoughts raged through it like a storm. He could not think, could not breathe, what was he going to do? The storm continued to whirl through his mind until one sound broke through, slowly drowning out the wild tempest. Familiar laughter echoed through his mind, until he could not tell if it was just in his mind or if someone else was chuckling along.

Kibaou watched with interest his opponent shook with laughter, Yulier pressed herself further into her small niche, feeling uneasy at the sudden change in behavior. Slowly the Demon rose to his feet, crimson points of light blazing brighter than before, or so it seemed to Kibaou.

The red warrior opened his menu with a casual flick of his hand and began sorting through various screens.

"You know," The Demon hissed. "I had entertained the idea of letting you live if you surrendered." This brought a chuckle from Kibaou's lips.

"I don't think you will get the chance." The Army leader informed the, now humming, player. "If you don't have a weapon then it's the end for you." Kibaou received an answer a moment later in the form of the ringing of an item being summoned. The Demon held out its hand as a straight sword took shape, he grasped the modest, black leather scabbard as it fully formed.

The hilt was wrapped with leather wrappings and the pommel was a polished stone orb. The cross-guard also looked as if it were made of polished stone and manifested itself as a simple bar that extended just enough to protect the player's hand. Kibaou raised an eyebrow expectantly at the Demon.

The red armored player slowly slid the blade out of its sheath and discarded the now empty vessel. The blade matched then hilt in its simplicity and Kibaou was sure that it was made of stone. The Army leader was correct; the entire weapon was made of the same stone-like material, shaped meticulously into a sword.

The only thing exceptional about the blade were the three runes carved down the center of the blade, each sign was different a glowed a different color.

"Found this in a puddle, it's called Genesis." Vlinn said with a chuckle and before Kibaou could say anything the Demon was suddenly in front of him, new weapon glowing. A quick diagonal slash was all the player provided, drawing a line down Kibaou's chest, it was a simple beginner skill, one that Kibaou did not fear, he let the blade fall and was almost floored for the trouble.

The leader staggered back as his health dropped by almost twenty percent, a significant difference from the Demon's first blade.

"Oh," The Oath Keeper cooed. "Yeah, this'll do nicely." He chuckled and turned a crimson stare at his opponent. Slowly the chuckle turned into laughter, long and loud. Kibaou growled and brought his sword into a sword skill stance, he would teach this fool to laugh at him.

The leader leapt forward, huge blade glowing yellow, and swung down at the laughing player. His weapon never connected, Vlinn seemingly disappeared, although his laughter still echoed through the chamber. A flash of blue from his right grabbed Kibaou's attention and he spun in time to see the Demon dashing at him, blade held above his shoulder.

Vlinn took two steps and then leapt into the air, homing in on his opponents shoulder, he brought his new blade down only to have Kibaou's weapon snap up, blocking the blow. Kibaou shoved the player away with a snarl, Vlinn let himself be flung away, landing nimbly as he came down.

The Demon rushed forward again but this time Kibaou was ready for him, he raised his huge sword above his head, pulling it behind his head slightly to activate the Avalanche skill. Vlinn laughed, placing the blade perpendicular to his left hip and collecting a dark, purple across the stone blade.

"All or nothing!" The Demon cackled releasing Snake Bite just as Kibaou activated Avalanche. Genesis snapped across left and then right in rapid succession, moving so fast it appeared the blade had not moved and one single sound rang out. Kibaou's blade never stopped its descent nor did it show signs of slowing down.

And then it shattered.

Inches away from Vlinn the weapon exploded into polygons, showering the grinning player. Kibaou was left speechless, capable only of gaping at the masked warrior that was slowly approaching him. Vlinn snapped the sword out lowly to the right, letting it flare to life with a vibrant crimson.

"How?" Kibaou had finally managed to find his voice, shaky as it was.

"When I was training my original sword broke and I was forced to use whatever weapons the monsters dropped, that was normally straight swords." The player continued his slow advance, sword held low and ready. "I'd rather keep this a secret from Cronan; he made Enrapture special for me."

Genesis leapt up cutting a diagonal scar across Kibaou's chest, and then lashed across, drawing a horizontal line to cross the original. Another diagonal slash added a final scar to Kibaou's avatar and Vlinn watched with pleasure as the man's healthbar dropped into the red zone.

"No," Kibaou shouted, stumbling backwards. "This isn't how this is supposed to go! I'm going to kill you!"

"Denial is an ugly thing," The Demon taunted, sauntering after his target.

"I can't lose, not here, not now! I'm going to kill you! And then your guild!"

"No," Vlinn's voice changed abruptly from the playful lilt he had adopted into a lower, more serious tone. "I promised on the first day that I would bring them home, you aren't going to be the one to stop me."

Kibaou scrambled backwards as Vlinn leaned forward, keeping his blade low and parallel to the ground. The weapon shone a pale blue color and the Oath Keeper leapt forward before stabbing Genesis toward Kibaou.

Rage Spike kicked in, in full and Vlinn seemed to disappear for a brief second before reappearing in front of Kibaou, sword point rocketing toward the Army leader's face. And then the entire world seemed to freeze. Genesis' skill glow sputtered out and stopped an inch from Kibaou's nose. Vlinn remained suspended in mid-air, unable to move at all, Kibaou it seemed was also frozen similarly.

The source of the sudden time stop floated in the air above them, a huge holographic message that read: Congratulations! A moment later red menus sprang to life in front of each player. Congratulations on clearing all ninety-nine floors of Aincrad. All player HP will be restored fully and all players will be forcefully logged out; thank you for playing!

The first thing that registered in Vlinn's mind was that Kibaou's health suddenly appeared green again. The Oath Keeper went to cry out but the next moment the entire world went dark.

 ** _Loose Ends_**

 ** _November 7_** ** _th_** ** _, 2024 3:00 pm Aincrad Standard Time; 2:00 am Eastern Standard Time_**

Sky's eyes were heavy, heavier even than when she was curled up on the couch in front of the fireplace back in their maisonette on the forty-ninth floor. Was that where she was, something seemed off, there was a strange beeping sound, the air was different, odd smells filled the air.

Slowly she cracked her eyes open only to find her vision was incredibly blurry, she glanced around, attempting to see through the haze. She could vaguely make out equipment she had not seen since SAO had started. A chair was placed beside her with a figure that she could barely see and then her eyelids slid shut again, with or without her permission.

The first thing he noticed was how unbearably dry his throat felt, he would have killed for his canteen right then but when he tried to retrieve it he found that his arms refused to move. Odd, he did not remember Kibaou hitting him with a paralysis poison laced weapon.

Kibaou! Vlinn forced his eyes open only to find that he could see very little, everything was far fuzzier than they should have been. Patiently he waited for his vision to recover and slowly the room became clearer with time.

A hospital room revealed itself slowly and the puzzle pieces in his mind began falling into place. They had done it, they were back. A nurse was fiddling with equipment at the other end of the room with her back turned to him. His dry throat persisted so he opened his mouth to ask for water, only to have it come out as a distorted croak.

The nurse spun around at the sound and made eye contact with the young man. Vlinn attempted to establish communication again with similar results, this time however the nurse hurried out of the room, leaving him alone again.

 _Well that was rude!_

A few days later Sky and Vlinn finally made contact, thankfully all of the American players had been relocated to the same hospital, easier to monitor them all the government had figured.

Upon their request a nurse pointed them in the direction of Cronan's room; they had been allowed to freely roam the hospital but only with the use of an electric wheel chair. It would be some time before their muscles were usable again.

In their comrades room Cronan slept peacefully, no matter what they did his eyes refused to open. Several days later, information regarding the SAO incident was released and with it the news that three hundred players had yet to wake up from their induced comas. The players remained trapped within their nerve gears, dreaming, sleeping or perhaps still fighting.

The remaining Oath Keepers did not know, all they knew was their comrade had not come back with them.

 _"_ _If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story. –Orson Welles_


End file.
